


Wasteland

by Roucarnage



Category: Naruto
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Explicit Language, Gen, Genderbending, Implied Sexual Content, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Out of Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 04:30:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 38
Words: 221,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roucarnage/pseuds/Roucarnage
Summary: Born with an extinct bloodline, Zetsu was considered nothing more than a living weapon in times of war. When the Akatsuki acquired her, a lifetime of servitude was expected. Instead she discovered the organization doubled as a dysfunctional family with an overprotective father figure, sibling rivalry, puppy love, and tragedy. An alternate telling of the Akatsuki. Zetsu centric.





	1. Chapter 1

 

**Wasteland Prologue**

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc:**

**Prologue**

_13th, Month 5_

_Today, two more experiments resulted in failure, neither capable of containing the Mayfly. Both were children, K-MF-127, Satori, Aged 7, and K-MF-203, Natsuko, Aged 9. Their tiny bodies were shortly fed to K-MF-001, who consumed them both within the hour and violently. I vomited this morning’s tea and biscuits. Our remaining experiment numbers have dwindled, excluding K-MF-001 and K-MF-084, and orphanage has refused to supply us with anymore samples or the hospital with their sickly, otherwise people will begin to question. If we are unable to conquer up more experiments, we will have to enlist outside help once more or the project will be brought to a dead halt or worse, switch hands. Such a result would be undesirable to the government, especially before K-MF-001’s field test to warrant more funding from the council. Hopefully, with the recent success of K-MF-084, all we will need is the two experiments and testing will cease completely._

The afternoon’s dairy entry was concluded as Akiyama Kiyoshi tucked his pen into the broken spine of the tattered, old notebook before removing his glasses and burying his face into his hands.

For several years, he had studied adamantly to become a doctor. The first of a family of petty farmers. His life-long dream to care for the ill and the meek, but instead, he was enlisted under a corrupt government and instead of saving lives, he was taking them. Weeding through innocent lives like cattle. Worse, they were children. Young being which had never had a chance at life before they were stolen away to be poked and prodded. At the start of his days, he told himself he was much more than a cog in a machine, that this project was much more. But at the end of the day, he was still that one thing he loathed most about himself. He was a child killer.

His sour stomach twisted at those words and his throat burned with searing bile which he swallowed down thickly. Outside his office door, the hallways were alive with chatter, those others oblivious to his inner struggle as they conserved, about side-projects, home and love life and even their children. He dared not think of his own family, of his daughter whom he fed and clothed with his blood-soaked paychecks. Kiyoshi could even hear Ryouta boasting loudly to their coworkers about K-MF-001, whose project team he headed, in every minute, gruesome detail. His stomach lurched again as he listened and he decided to calm his riled insides with coffee.

He replaced his glasses upon his nose and stood stiffly from his chair, taking a step towards the closed door before spying the plush bear sitting on his desk. It was old, a relic of his daughter’s baby years, and its soft purple fluff was dirt-stained and ruptured in spots where stuffing peeked through. He had stolen it from his daughter’s room as she slept after she insisted she was too old for the toy and his wife demanded he dispose of it. He had decided on a better use for it.

Taking a moment, he took the toy and tucked it securely under his arm before he left the safe confides of his office into the brightly lit hallways of the underground laboratories. He received cheerful greetings from the fellow professors and doctors which roamed the halls to their various appointments and he returned them all with a half-smile and mumbled appreciation. He did not encounter Ryouta, whose laughter resounded around the laboratories, much to his relief. He did not think he was mentally or physically capable of hearing the man’s bragging about superiority with K-MF-001 compared to K-MF-084 whom was still in the infancy of her development and Kiyoshi oversaw. If he did, Kiyoshi could not promise himself he wouldn’t slug the man in the jaw.

Thankfully, his journey between his office and the breakroom was a quiet one and when he entered the room, he was delighted to see Ayano, a co-worker and close friend, pouring herself a cup of pure black coffee. Looking as ragged as he. She had been the one on clock when the two children perished. There had been many before them, yet she took every death as harsh as the first. As did he.

“Kiyoshi-kun,” The nurse greeted once she noticed Kiyoshi, smiling softly. “You look horrible.”

Kiyoshi laughed, his blonde curls bouncing. “Yes, as do you Ayano-chan.” He plucked a styrofoam cup from its corral and grabbed the fresh coffee pot, pouring himself a completely black cup as well before taking a gulp of the piping beverage and heaving a sigh. “This morning was disastrous.” ‘At least it was only two of them this time.’ He thought the next moment.

“Yes,” Ayana agreed quietly. “Last night, both of them were in good health and conscious, then this morning…cardiac arrest. The Mayday rejected them. Again.” She trailed off, shaking her head whilst staring down mournfully at her coffee.

“The Mayday only accepts those which possess the bloodline.” Kiyoshi sipped his coffee, the hot liquid soothing his rowdy stomach and tangled nerves. “That is why only 001 and 084 have been so successful. It’s foolish for Tarou to expect us to take a thousand-year old bloodline and optimize it so it accepts anyone as its host without the need of a bloodline. If that was possible, people would be clamoring to possess the Sharingan or other powerful kekkei genkai.”

“Speaking of 001 and Tarou, have you heard his proposal of a field test to the council is today?”

Kiyoshi snorted, adjusting his glasses. “Of course, Ryouta is rather prideful of 001 and has been boasting to whomever will led him an ear. He’s eager to test 001 on more lively targets, such as the Iwagakure squatter camp outside the village. Such a thing would be suicidal. It would rouse the Iwagakure government onto our affairs if 001 fails. The council would never approve of such a risky move.”

“And what if the council approves and 001 does fail? What of the project?”

“Then the project will be cancelled. But, if the council forgives such a blunder, then I imagine 001 will have to be reevaluated and the project has the possibility of falling onto 084.”

“But 084 was not designed for direct combat so how would that be possible?”

Kiyoshi clenched the cup in his hand, the fragile material groaning from the pressure and threatened to rupture hot coffee. “I fear she will have to be optimized with the more aggressive strain of Mayfly such as 001 was.” The thought revolted him. 084 was so young and a good girl. She reminded him of his own daughter and the two were not too far apart in age. She was the only reason he remained on the Mayfly project. To become the inhuman likes of which 001 had, it made him shutter.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them both as they lamented about the current events and possible future, sipping their coffees quietly. After a solid minute of the muteness, Ayana spyed the plush bear and was eager to transition to a lighter subject. “That’s a cute bear.”

Kiyoshi remembered the toy which had tagged along with him and unwedged it from under his arm where he had been suffocating the poor thing. “Oh yes. It was an old bear of Miku’s and she said she no longer wanted it so I brought it for 084. Hopefully she’s not too old for it either.” He smiled down at the bear which stared up at him with its purple, buttoned eyes.

Ayana smiled, brushing her ebony locks from her face. “I’m sure she’ll love it. She loves everything you do for her, afterall.”

“I hope so. Has her daily chemo session concluded? I would like to visit her as soon possible. If Tarou is speaking to the council today then a meeting is sure to be held directly after about what was said and everyone knows Tarou loves to hear himself speak.”

“I would say so. Her sessions usually finish at noon. If not then soon I’m positive.”

“Perfect.” Kiyoshi downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp before tossing the cup in the trashcan nearby. “I will see you after the meeting, Ayana-chan. If not, then tomorrow.”

“Same, Kiyoshi-kun.”

The two bidded their farewells before Kiyoshi headed to the infirmary wing where K-MF-084 was currently being contained, cradling the ragged bear against his chest. He scanned his identification card at the entrance and the thick steel door which locked away the wing unbarred itself with a resounding thud before slowly opening inwards. The dimmed halls were deathly quiet as the only sound was of those of his footfalls against the metal walkway. The lack of notable life meant the nurses which were stationed within the wing had concluded their duties and left to their other shifts. Due to the diminishing numbers of patients, it was not uncommon for the few which reminded to be left alone and left untended unless in the case of emergency or their daily care.

Bypassing the door to the infirmary ward itself, Kiyoshi nudged open the door and peeked inside. The room was darkened and quiet except the blinking lights and beeping of the medical equipment and soft breathing of the handful sleeping children which remained. As he searched for 084’s bed in the darkness, he navigated through the arrangement of beds, stepping softly so not to rouse any of the ill children and disturb their desperately needed rest. Finally towards the back of the ward, he spotted the girl’s trademark moss green hair, illuminated by the glow of the towering medical machines installed besides her bed.

Setting the bear on the bed, he reached over and carefully roused her from her slumber. A few moments later, the girl’s caramel eyes rolled out from beneath their lids, the glowing orbs staring into the doctor’s opposing chocolate ones and immediately, her chapped lips parted into a grin, exposing her inhume canines. Kiyoshi returned the unsettling smile without hesitation.

“Hey,” He greeted, moving the bear so it sat within her vision. “I bought you a friend.”

The young teenager groped the toy with her syringe-riddled hand and observed it, tracing the various tears and scruffs with her thin fingers before smiling again and proceeding to tuck the bear securely beneath her chin.

“Do you like it?” She nodded and Kiyoshi chuckled, petting his hand through her matted locks. “Are you feeling well?” There was a moment of hesitation, then she nodded. Despite her attempts to reinsure him, Kiyoshi knew it was a lie.

The chemo which she endured to monitor the Mayfly was an uncomfortable process filled with jabbed and poking of needles and torturous side effects such as vomiting, fever-induced shaking and exhaustion. He said nothing though, and just patted her head again. Such a courageous girl.

Suddenly, Kiyoshi’s pager vibrated and he unhooked it from his belt, reading the message on the lit screen which simply read ‘meeting’. He sighed and placed it away before returning his attention to the girl which was dozing off again, clenching the bear close.

“I have to leave now. I’ll see you again soon, alright?” She nodded and he tucked the wool blanket around her petite form. “Sleep well, Zetsu.” And with that, he got up and left as quietly as he had entered, leaving the girl to resume her rest.

…

 

Once he left the infirmary wing, he mingled into the moderate-sized group of scientists and doctors which were migrating towards the meeting room. Nurses were not involved in meetings so he did not see Ayana much to his familiar disappointment. He hated attending these meetings alone as he did not have a research team such as Ryouta and only Ayana to accompany him during the day. He liked the moral support they supplied each other especially when the news was a hard one to swallow and something told him this would one of those times.

That feeling was only reinforced when he entered the quarters which meetings were held and seated besides Tarou, he instantly spotted Ryouta, that familiar shit-eating grin of his plastered to his pale face. Kiyoshi’s stomach began doing backflips again with anxiety and he concentrated on the sliver of hope that the meeting was completely unrelated to the Tarou’s proposal to the council. Everyone took their respected seats along the elongated meeting table and Kiyoshi sat down opposite of Ryouta also besides Tarou. Ryouta smirked at Kiyoshi and the blonde dropped his sight to his lap, that urge of whacking the other man returning once again.

“Well then, it seems everyone is here so we can begin.” Tarou spoke once everyone was seated and whispered conversations hushed. The obese man adjusted himself in his chair which groaned keenly, as to plead for mercy from the man’s weight. “As you all know, today, I spoke with the council about several things. One of those things being the potential of K-MF-001’s field test. Well…it was approved!”

Applause broke out amongst the attendance and everyone began congratulating each other on their contribution to the astounding news. Everyone except Kiyoshi as he struggled with his stomach once more and even retaining consciousness. The news had indeed been as he feared and debated about leaving to avoid the rest of it.

“Now, Hiruma Ryouta, project head of K-MF-001, shall speak.” Ryouta stood and the applause increased in pitch, even with some people hooting and hollering. The man clearly relished in the praise. Kiyoshi’s head began to subtly throb with a headache.

“Thank you, Tarou-sama, for speaking to the council. Without you we would have never reached this point.” Ryouta remarked and a small round of applause was given to Tarou whom nodded in approval of the credit. Despite being seated right beside his boss, Kiyoshi’s hands remained firmly on his quivering knees, his knuckles paling from the tension. “Now then, I’m sure some of you are questioning what ‘field test’ means exactly.”

Ryouta gestured his assistant over and she bent beneath the table, producing a storage box stacked with thick, yellowed files within. She removed one at a time and handed them to the closest person who passed to the next then the next until everyone had a copy of the file in their hand, including Kiyoshi.

“Well if you open you packets and read page seven, you’ll see…”

Kiyoshi flipped open the folder and upon the neatly arranged paperwork, he immediately noticed what was the transcript detailing the original Mayfly project. A flood of repressed memories washed over him and Ryouta’s voice faded out as he read through the report which was written word for word in Kiyoshi’s own handwriting.

**PROJECT MAYFLY**

**PROJECT HEAD: AKIYAMA KIYOSHI**

**SUBJECTS: [NAMES CLASSIFIED]**

**SUBJECT NO: K-MF-001, K-MF-002**

**DATE: [DATE CLASSIFIED]**

**DESCRIPTION:** _K-MF-001 and K-MF-002 are both carriers of the Mayfly and last known remaining of the bloodline. They were brought in willingly for testing. Testing shall be carried out monthly for a year period to conceive a cure for the violent mutations which have been observed with the Mayfly._

**[DATE CLASSIFIED]:** _K-MF-001 and K-MF-002 undergo studying to extract samples of the Mayfly. Both have been confirmed to possess the **SAFE** strain of Mayfly. Modification shall be performed to neuter the strain from the ability to mutate then be reintroduced to subjects._

**[DATE CLASSIFIED]:** _The **DISABLED** strain of Mayfly was introduced to K-MF-001 and K-MF-002. Testing reveals the **SAFE** strain has rejected the **DISABLED** strain. More examples have been extracted and farther testing to be carried out._

**[DATE CLASSIFIED]:** _Alternatives of the **DISABLED** strain have failed. K-MF-001 has been displaying unsettling side effects. Excessive drooling, loss of appetite and memory loss. Testing reveals his **SAFE** strain has begun to mutate. K-MF-002 displays no abnormities and her strain remains stable. The source of mutation is unknown but all future testing on both subjects will be ceased after only three months. K-MF-001 will be monitored and contained._

**[DATE CLASSIFIED]:** K-MF-001’s symptoms have remained stable for an entire month. He has been deemed safe enough for release from containment and reunited with his daughter. The project is too dangerous to proceed and both will be released but are required to return to the hospital for monthly check-ups to insure no farther mutations of the Mayfly.

The transcript ended there. Shortly after, that had been when the Kusagakure government stepped in and Tarou was personally assigned over the dying project.

Kiyoshi remembered that day well and the thrill he experienced, assuming the government was assisting their failed attempts to domesticate the bloodline and resurrect it from extinction. However, those hopes had been quickly dashed when his team was released and K-MF-001 and K-MF-002 were brought back in for testing once again. But not for their benefit, but the benefit of Kusagakure and their current position in the rumoured approaching war.

Samples of the deemed ‘unstable’ strain were recovered from records and used on the two subjects in an attempt to agitate the bloodline into mutating then more subjects were brought in, in the shape of orphans and the sickly to test if they could be infected with the Mayfly. Tests to ‘introduce’ the bloodline to the subjects proved a failure with a one-hundred percent fatally rate. Attempts to mutate the bloodline were successful however, with both K-MF-001 and K-MF-002 propelled from wielding ‘safe’ strains to ‘unstable’ strains within a period of months.

‘That was when she killed herself.’ Kiyoshi thought, skimming the underside of his thumb nail with his teeth. ‘Complications with the Mayfly. Bisected herself.’

It had been the most devastating day of Kiyoshi’s life. He had cared for the girl throughout a period of years as her doctor. He would describe her as a daughter before his had been born. She had only been nine, a beautifully young life wasted.

_‘Then you, 001, surcame to the Mayfly, you couldn’t handle her death. Then you killed two doctors shortly after, tore them to shreds then ate them before anyone could safely contain you in your grief.’ His chewing intensified as the nail splintered and blood oozed before his teeth focused their mindless chewing on another nail. ‘But we didn’t cancel the project, because then we discovered 084, and the project resumed, even after a decade. Now they’re risking the livelihood of you both with this field test. I failed you, 001 and your daughter, but I won’t fail 084. I won’t, I won’t…I.’_

“Kiyoshi.”

Kiyoshi jumped in his seat and glanced around, realizing everyone was staring at him, especially Ryouta and Tarou who both had their eyebrows quirked at the fidgeting man. Kiyoshi felt his face drenched in warm sweat and his fingers ached after having chewed two of his nails to the quick during his frantic reflecting. Ryouta forced a laugh to break the awkwardness, making Kiyoshi flinch again and lick the sticky blood from his lips.

“Come on, Kiyoshi. Didn’t think I was that boring.” Everyone chuckled and the black-haired man cleared his throat. “Would you like to share on your plans with K-MF-084? Because obviously, K-MF-001 isn’t interesting enough for you.” A few more snickers sounded. Kiyoshi swallowed thickly and opened his mouth to speak in an attempt to defend himself when Tarou interrupted.

“No plans will be needed. K-MF-001’s field test shall be a success and we will have no need for K-MF-084. No need to worry yourself, Kiyoshi.” The reinsurance rung hollow and Kiyoshi caught the subtle threat smuggled among the words. No need for K-MF-084. Suddenly, his stomach lurched and bitter bile spilled into his mouth.

Without a word, Kiyoshi snatched up the file, scattering some of the paperwork to the floor, and fled from the conference room, hand slapped over his bulging mouth. Ayana had been waiting outside the room along with a few other nurses for news when Kiyoshi rushed through the doors, startling the women as they stumbled away.

“Kiyoshi-kun?” She gasped as the man ran past, making a b-line for the nearest restroom and she didn’t waste a second to follow after him despite the fact he entered the men’s bathroom.

Once inside, Kiyoshi collapsed into a stall and tossed the files aside before he vomited violently into the recently cleared toilet. Ayana entered a mere millisecond behind and dropped to her knees behind her friend, instinctively groping for the man’s hair and yanking the blonde curls back from the backsplash. He retched for several minutes before his stomach was unable to produce anymore of its contents and he dry-heaved before finally stopped, trembling and gasping for breath.

Ayana tore some paper from its roller and used it to dab away the sweat that coursed down Kiyoshi’s face and the vomit caked on his lips, sighing to herself. “I’m guessing the meeting did not go well?”

Kiyoshi shook his head, inhaling a shaky breath. “No…no it did not.”


	2. Arc 1: Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An organization known as the Akatsuki takes interest in Kusagakure after being contacted by the Tsuchikage.

Wasteland Chapter 1

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 1**

“Would you like for me to walk you home?” Ayana asked quietly, watching as Kiyoshi packed his suitcase. They had returned to the doctor’s cramped office after he had requested the rest of the day off due to his breakdown. Surprisingly, Tarou had been supportive, permitting it and even offered him to talk the next few days off. Kiyoshi considered it, as K-MF-001’s field test was scheduled at the end of the week and he was unsure if he possessed the mental capability to attend the event.  

“I’ll be fine, Ayana-chan. I’m just going to go home and rest.” Ayana nodded and Kiyoshi shoveled in whatever paperwork he suspected he might need during his downtime before heaving the leather suitcase to his side, feeling considerably heavier in his exhausted state. “If I take the next few days off, I can trust you to care for 084, yes?”

“Of course.” The woman answered.

He nodded, tucking his hair behind his ear. “Good. She’s not due for any testing so she should be left alone until I return. But, if anything comes up, please inform me. These days will be uncertain and I want nothing to happen to her while I’m gone.”

“Absolutely, Kiyoshi-kun. She will be monitored closely.”

“Thank you, Ayana-chan.” He supplied a kiss on his forehead, a purely platonic gesture.

Ayana accompanied Kiyoshi as he departed the laboratories, loading onto the elevator in the west wing which was connected to the sizable hospital which had been built above ground to guise the affairs occurring below. Especially from Iwagakure eye. While they rode the several stories up to the hospital, Kiyoshi lost himself once more to his buzzing thoughts as he realized her would have to begin creating a back-up plan if everything were to go wrong. He had cared for 084 since she was arrived from the orphanage seven years prior and considered her a second daughter to him due to it. He did not want to see the same fate of 001 and 002 occur again and would protect her by any means. Even it meant risking his job or even his own welfare.    

The elevator chugged to its destination and the bell rung as the doors parted, startling Kiyoshi from his thoughts and he silently followed Ayana as stepped off into the active employee only break room which reeked of freshly brewed coffee and smoke. A few of the nurses which worked the infirmary ward in the laborites were there, taking their breaks before they began their second shift at the hospital itself. They greeted the two as they passed by and Kiyoshi wondered how they could appear so calm, smoking their cigarettes and gossiping, despite the death of two innocent children mere hours before. He did not return their friendliness.

The hospital was quiet as they navigated the white halls to the front entrance, the only noises being the beeping of machinery and distant conversations. Hardly anyone were in the beds of the rooms which they passed. Due to the village’s small population, there was not much use for the hospital which had been built as a ruse. Those which did come in, if they were rendered ill enough, would be relocated to the laboratories for fodder and their love ones told of their abrupt death. If questioned about the body, they were supplied an urn of ashes, ashes gathered from a fire pit, and told a fib their body had been cremated for them by the hospital. When they heard it had been free, they usually quieted down and left peacefully with the faked ashes of their family or friend. When in reality, their loved ones were either alive, though not for long, and being used as a host for the Mayfly or supper for 001. Kiyoshi felt his abused stomach clench at the thought, but he convinced himself it was the overpowering stench of bleach, knowing the acknowledgement of his role in everything would make him heave again.

Finally, they stepped into the main lobby of the hospital. Another nurse was lounged behind the front counter, her eyes glued to the fashion magazine and grunted a farewell as Kiyoshi and Ayana departed through the doors. It was hardly evening and the air was crisp with a hint of oncoming rain and the surrounding plant-life which engulfed the village. Barely anyone roamed the dusty streets and those which were still out at this hour were shopkeepers closing shop or people walking home such as they.

Despite being a hidden village, the Kusagakure was smaller than the rest and a fragment of the superpower is once. After the devastation of the Second Shinobi World War, the village was forced to repay a crippling debt by the Five Nations due to the damage they had caused in the war. Mainly the inhumane acts of those which possessed the Mayfly. It had bankrupted them and decades later, they had never recovered which explained the lack of military, the abandoned buildings, such as schools and hospitals, and humble population.

“It’s cold tonight.” Kiyoshi blinked and glanced over at Ayana, who had taken her red scarf from her bag and wrapped it around her neck. It complained her black hair so well and he debated about telling her but bit his tongue.

She noticed the man’s steady gazing and smiled. “Smells like rain also. We should both get home before we’re caught in it.” Kiyoshi nodded lamely and they increased their pace towards his home.

Kiyoshi’s house was located in the back of the village, amongst the towering foliage and within the shadow of a crumbling building which had once functioned as an Academy, once upon a time training Kusagakure’s most talented. Now it was a shelter for the local vermin and distant memories.

As they circled the rotting structure, a modest cottage could be seen. The open windows were illuminated and even from their distance, a delicious scent was wafting throughout the air though Kiyoshi could not muster any hunger from the smell due to his unsettled stomach. He looked at Ayana who had her nose pointed towards the air, inhaling the aroma and Kiyoshi wondered if he should invite her in for dinner. It was just a thought though, when he remembered the woman was due for his shift at the hospital and also his wife, Sayuri, who was highly disapproving of Ayana’s presence and would never allow the other woman within the house. He assumed it to be jealously as he spent more time with the nurse than his own wife due to his career. Or perhaps distain for the prettier and younger woman. Either or.

Suddenly, Kiyoshi swiveled on his heel towards Ayana who paused in her step. “I’m fine from here, Ayana-chan. You should be heading off to the hospital before you’re clocked late.” He told her gently.

“Alright, if you’re sure, Kiyoshi-kun. I will see you whenever you feel well enough to return to work and I promise to watch over 084. She’ll be safe, I swear it.”

The blonde man nodded. “That’s all I ask. Thank you.”

They hugged before exchanging farewells and Kiyoshi watched Ayana’s retreating back until it disappeared safely into the distance. He then turned away himself and walked the short distance to his house. The door was unlocked and he stepped inside, relishing the warmth which immediately embraced his shivering bones. As he disposed his bag on the coat rack, Sayuri rounded the kitchen corner.

“You’re home early. Actually going to join us for dinner tonight?” The distain in her voice was painfully obvious and Kiyoshi sighed as he shrugged off his coat. Not this again.

“No, I will not. I became ill at the hospital, I’m going to lay down.” He said as he hung his coat and made his way toward their bedroom when he heard Sayuri hot on his heels.

“Kiyoshi, do not bullshit me!” She seethed, venom spewing from her lips. “You never eat with us anymore, not morning or night. You spend all your time at the hospital and with her.” Her, referencing Ayana. Kiyoshi turned towards wife. This argument had gotten old the first time she had brought it up. Now it was beginning to irk him.  

“Sayuri, there is nothing between Ayana and I. She is merely a nurse I work closely with in the children’s ward.” He shot back, the lie feeling thick on his tongue. If she knew the truth, a possible affair would be the least of their problems. “I will not be having this discussion with you again, Sayuri-“

“I will not drop this, Kiyoshi! Not when you neglect your own daughter and wife! If you think-“

“Mom? Dad?”

Both parties ceased their arguing and looked over, seeing their daughter, Miku, standing in the mouth of the hallway. She glanced between her feuding parents nervously before walking to her father, cautiously wrapping her arms around his waist. “Welcome home, dad. You’re home early.”

“Hello, Miku, sweetheart.” He cooed, ruffling the girl’s matching blonde locks. “I had an incident at work, so I’m not feeling very well.”

“Oh, are you going to eat with us?” She asked quietly, peeking around her father to her mother who retreated back into the kitchen and the sound of pots being clanged together emitted a moment later.

“No, sweetheart. I’m going to lay down. But I have the next few days off so you and I can have all the time in the world together.” Immediately, his daughter’s face lit up and she smiled widely. Kiyoshi ignored the guilt gnawing at the back of his subconscious. He hadn’t spent that much time with his daughter for the last year.

“Dinner.” Sayuri announced from the kitchen and carried out a pot to the dining table which had been neatly arranged. Only with two plates, Kiyoshi noticed. He patted his daughter’s head before detaching her from his waist and shooing her off to dinner. The girl bounced off before pausing, looking at her father who shuffled off to his bedroom.

“Dad?”

“Yes, sweetheart?” Kiyoshi asked, stopping in the hallway.

“I love you.” She said.

“I love you too.” He replied back before retiring to his room as the girl skipped off to the table to eat supper with her mother alone. Kiyoshi’s heart ached at the three words which he could not recall the last instance which he spoke them to his own daughter.

As he entered his and wife’s shared room, his worries came creeping once more as he undressed. He had the next few days off yet he wouldn’t have a moment of rest. The field test, 084, Ayana, it was enough to make his head spin. Yet, despite the anxieties pledging him, he forced himself to concentrate on Miyu. He would finally have time with his daughter and he would be robbing himself and her if he couldn’t enjoy the time. Everything could wait until he returned to the laboratories. Unless Ayana came to him, he should not worry or he would be spouting grey hair before his forties.

He yanked off his shirt and tossed it aside along with his shoes before he stood to close the open window so he could rest. The wind had begun to whip up with the approaching storm and the light from the cottage cast on the swaying trees outside, creating dances figures in the shadows that his exhausted mind actually mistook them for people for the briefest second. He scolded himself for his silliness, last thing he needed was paranoia too, and drew the blinds closed, blocking out the outside world before he switched off the light to sleep.

Outside the cottage, a figure stared into the closed window before striking a cigarette and walking away.

—

An extensive rainstorm engulfed the Land of Rivers, grasping the land with heavy downpours and whipping winds throughout the night. In a forest secluded from the wandering eye, a humble cabin in the woods was tossed about by the storm. The wooden structure groaned, desperately clinging to the side of the incline it was perched on. The current occupant descended the stairwell to the basement, the steps creaking and shifting from the person’s weight and a history of wood rot and the resident termite population. The lantern clenched in their hand flickered with their movements. The company paused before the closed door of the lower room and knocked heavily, awaiting a reply from the other side from the unexpected guest of the night.

“Enter.” A voice answered the next moment.

The person grappled the brass knob but the door stuck fast, swollen with the water trickling throughout the structure and required a shove to unlatch it. Once inside, the visitor yanked the door closed behind them before lifting the lantern to brighten the basement and fellow man which was seated behind a discarded, oak desk. The man was alone this time as his companion was visibly missing from his side.

“Take a seat, Kakuzu.” The ginger man remarked, gesturing to the flimsy chair which had been set out before the desk. Kakuzu obeyed silently, wedging his large frame into the sorry chair and seating his lantern to the floor, positioned so he could still see Leader’s face. “I have an interesting mission for you.”

“Interesting?” Kakuzu repeated. Leader nodded, folding his hands beneath his chin and closing his unnerving ringed orbs.

“The Tsuchikage has reached out to the Akatsuki with an unusual concern.”

“Of?”

“Kusagakure.” Leader spoke without a moment of hesitation. It sounded more insane aloud.

Kakuzu narrowed his red eyes. “Kusagakure? For what reasons? They have occupied the village, and they have no military to combat them with. What possibly reason would Kusagakure frighten them so?”

“He refused to explain. Instead he merely said to meet an associate of his that is current stationed in Kusagakure and he would explain all of this madness. The only reason I agreed with such a ridiculous request to due to the sizable sum which we will be rewarded with. It would be enough to fund the Akatsuki for the foreseeable future. That is why I chose you for this job, being the only one which I trust with such an investment.”

Kakuzu scowled behind his bandanna. It sounded like a waste of time to him, chasing another old man’s paranoiac thoughts but if this payout was as large as Leader implied it to be, then perhaps just this once he could chase a few fairytales.

“Very well. I’ll do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This is the second half of the prologue. The main characters shall get more screen time in following chapters such as Kakuzu.


	3. Arc 1: Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu arrives in the Woodlands to meet with a mysterious agent of Iwagakure and learns the bombshell reason he was hired.

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc:**

**Chapter 2**

The Woodlands was experiencing its worse storm of the decade. Torrential rains drowned the earth and the vicious combination of wind and lightning desecrated the county's captivating forests, reducing the age-old trees to kindle. All and any wise living creature and person had seeked shelter from the sweeping floods and mudslides so not to be washed away. Obviously, it was a brilliant time to be crossing the country for a mission and potential, or unpotential, payday. Sometimes, it could honestly be said Kakuzu would do anything for money. And they would be right.

Money was the only reason he was currently trudging to Kusagakure, ankle deep in sloppy mud and soaked to the bone from the icy rain, heading throbbing from the deafening thunder quaking the ground. It was a wonder that he hadn't been stricken with pneumonia during the three day trek. Or struck by lightning, for that matter. But after this, he would happily spare the money to buy a bottle of warm sake. Perhaps even two. Hell, he might just get wasted.

Due to the thick fog, it was impossible to view into the distance and spy any evidence of the village approaching so for all he knew, it could be five or fifty miles anyway. The scroll he had been issued detailed his informant was stationed in one of the Iwagakure camps surrounding Kusagakure and would meet him a safe distance from the village to avoid any resident eavesdroppers or wondering eyes. With the storm, however, it would be foolish to await someone in the rain and wind and Kakuzu would likely have to divert course to seek out a hotel until the weather relented. Hopefully, his informant was a patient person and would not mind a day or two extra until their meeting. Though, now the struggle would be finding a hotel or motel to retreat to. Even a stable shack.

Lightning scattered throughout the black clouds, briefly highlighted the water-logged land with radiant light and for the split-second it existed, Kakuzu spied a figure huddled under a tree alongside the pathway before the concealing blackness returned. He questioned the sight. Only a fool would be outside in this weather, besides Kakuzu that was. It could be his contact, or anything/anyone else. It could just be a dead body propped against a tree. It was far too dangerous making assumptions and conclusions.

So, whilst shuffling through the slop, Kakuzu kept an eye and safe distance from the hidden subject, whether it be friend or foe, real or imaginary. As he rounded it, there was a small faint glow originating from the spot, concluded to be a lit cigarette, confirming it to be both real and a person. He paused briefly as he now observed the hidden figure, trying to determine any key features such as armor, appearance, or inflation but the darkness prevented that and he was left to assume it could be his contact or not. The person made no attempt at revealing themselves to help his cause either, clearly as cautious. Kakuzu recalled the scroll and among the information listed within for the precautions to pursue once he encountered his contact or his assumed contact. Safer than shouting names. He cleared his parched throat.

"The healthy human mind doesn't wake up in the morning thinking this is its last day. But I think that's a luxury, not a curse." Once he finished reciting the phrase from the scroll, he patiently awaited an answer.

His company did not immediately reply and he questioned if he had spoken correctly or loud enough so not to be muffled by the pounding rain. Worst case scenario, the person was not his informant and assumed him to be insane for spouting randomness at them. The silence persisted and Kakuzu concluded the mysterious figure was not his target and his travels should resume. Foolish to wait in the rain and wind for acknowledgment.

"Outnumbered. Out of our minds. On a suicide mission. But the sands and rocks here stained with thousands of years of warfare... they will remember us." Kakuzu stopped again, recognizing the second half of the secret phrase.

Finally, the unknown company stepped from the shadows and the tanned man recognized the Iwagakure J nin garb which the blonde and four-eyed individual boasted, confirming without a reasonable doubt it to be his contact. He kept his guard however.

The fellow man inhaled deeply from his cigarette before flicking the remaining butt into the mud and extending his glove-clad hand out to Kakuzu. "I take it you are my contact from the Akatsuki, yes?" He questioned, smoke leaking from his mouth and nose and oddly enough from beneath the Iwagakure headband tied around his neck as he spoke before it was swept away into the biting wind. "Katsu Domon, captain of the Explosives Corps and Fourth Iwagakure division. At your service."

Kakuzu did not extend his own hand. "I'm not one for introductions."

The Iwagakure informant, Domon, sniffed and dropped his hand, tucking it away in his pant pocket. "Understandable. Hard to trust anyone these days, yes?" Kakuzu did not reply and the blonde sniffed again. "Very well. We should probably move somewhere warmer and more private to speak, yes? My squadron's campsite is nearby." Kakuzu grunted and Domon sniffed once more before turning and trudging into the forest line with Kakuzu keeping his distance behind.

Thankfully, the man spoke the truth and after approximately twenty minutes of shuffling through mud and over tipped and charred trees, Kakuzu could view battered buildings on the outskirts of the woods and their shattered windows glowing and emitting smoke. He already felt warmer. They broke the tree line and stepped into a graveyard of abandoned buildings and collapsed structures. No one walked the streets but the buildings were alive with chatter and laughter that resounded over the whipping wind. Domon directed them farther into the desolate section of Kusagakure before he finally headed towards an elongated building which appeared to function as a guard tower at one point in the past. Domon knocked on the sealed door and a small window slid open the next moment as someone peeked through at the visitors. Upon seeing the man, the door was hastily yanked opened and the Chunin on the other side bowed respectively as Domon stepped inside.

"Captain Katsu." The young man greeted and Domon tossed in his hand in half-assed wave as he passed. Kakuzu stepped in shortly after and the Chunin sputtered a greeting to the imposing man also before locking the door behind him and scurrying off to rejoin his team. The old, stone tower echoed with the dripping of water entering through cracks of broken bricks and the floor boards reeked of wet dog. The walls flicked with the fading lights of oil lanterns and a single fire roaring in the middle of the floor which four teams of three were camped around, the members varying in ranks and occupation, including a few Genin. Kakuzu pitied their young, pathetic lives.

The Iwagakure shinobi greeted their captain as Domon passed and he scaled the stairs which swiveled to a second floor. Kakuzu followed behind and he stepped onto the next floor, Domon had already lit an oil lantern which hung from the rafters and was busy lighting an old, rusty furnace which sat along the back wall. The blonde stood and removed his gloves, shaking them free of the coal dust and moisture before pulling them back on and gesturing towards a single table with two chairs positioned on either side as he monitored the coals. "Take a seat."

Kakuzu mutely accepted the offer and shrugged off his trench coat, draping it on the back of the wobbly, wooden chair to dry before he sat down and proceeded to ring his brunette locks of excessive water. Once the coals began to glow red, Domon secured the small door on the heater and walked over to the table, only to pause in front of a chest squatting behind the opposite chair. "Care for a drink?"

"Please." Kakuzu replied instantly, swallowing back salvia to relief his dry throat in the meantime.

Domon unlocked the chest and heaved out a fancy bottle of sake and two shot glasses. He popped open the fresh bottle and poured Kakuzu a shot. The missing nin swallowed it down in one gulp, relishing the warmth of the alcohol at the bottom of his stomach. Domon refilled his glass twice before pouring himself a shot also and settling in his chair, leaning back into the flimsy wood.

"Now then we're settled in, I can finally share why it was we dragged you out here during the storm of the century, yes?"

"Please do." Kakuzu replied gruffly.

Domon chuckled and lifted his glass to his lips. Suddenly, in an unusual display, he grasped his throat, in a gesture of self-strangulation which made Kakuzu pause and raise an eyebrow as he watched the man throw his head back as he sipped from his drink. Once the hot liquid had traveled his throat, he relented his hand and audibly cleared his throat, cracking his neck for extra measure. Kakuzu snorted at the odd ball behavior. Like him to be blessed with the whack jobs.

"Well then, I suppose I should start from the beginning. From the very beginning, yes?" Domon remarked, clearing his throat again. Kakuzu grunted and shifted his bandanna aside as he took a swig from his glass. "Well then, my squadron and I have been assigned here for the past year and half now and been observing odd occurrences concerning our new neighbours, Kusagakure."

Kakuzu finished off his third drink before reaching over to the dwindling bottle to pour himself another. "Odd how?"

"Hmm…how does a mysterious hospital, shady doctors and missing children sound?"

Kakuzu finished pouring his drink and passed the bottle on to Domon. "Sounds like a horrible novel."

Domon barked with laugher before he clamped his throat again and finished off his drink, clearing his throat afterwards. "Yes, yes, a bad novel, but true. Alright, from the beginning. It began with the hospital," Kakuzu grumbled in his throat. This man really intended to tell him as though it was a really was a bad novel. "We were ambushed by Konohagakure shinobi and one of my men had to be sent to the Kusagakure hospital to be treated. Whilst inside, he reported odd circumstances."

"Again, odd how?" Kakuzu grumbled.

Domon poured himself another glass of sake and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Kusagakure is a village of small population, yes? Not many people compared to other villages such as Konohagakure or Iwagakure but enough to still retain rank of Hidden Village, regardless of the Second World War. Anyway, whilst inside, he reported besides himself, there were no other patients bed ridden despite the hospital being the only in the village."

"So? Perhaps the villagers are healthy and have no need for a hospital."

"Perhaps, but if that was the case, then what need for a hospital? Given Kusagakure's financial situation as of the past half century, the fact they chose to build an elaborate hospital rather than feed its starving population or reinstate its military is suspicious in itself, but I digress."

"Please do."

"Very well. Besides the lack of patients, apparently the hospital had a vast amount of doctors and nurses. Far too many to be working, even if every bed was occupied. And they would all clock in within the same time together, but he hardly saw a third of those which would walk in, yet most clocked out together. So, what are these doctors and nurses doing if they are not working the hospital?"

"I don't know, playing solitaire in the staff room?" Kakuzu answered shortly. "Care to explain if this is leading somewhere? Because at this point, this seems all like overblown coincidence."

"Yes, yes, it is. Just trying for suspense." Domon insisted, sniffling. "Alright, covered the hospital and doctors, now for the children, yes? Well then, the village has an orphanage, quite a large one, sadly. One day, we observed some of the resident quacks escorting a group of children from the orphanage to the hospital. Perhaps they were sick, yes? We paid no mind, except the following month, the same quacks took more children, then the next month and the next. Between three and five children each month, but we never saw any of them returned."

"Maybe they died in the hospital." Kakuzu dismissed as he sipped his glass.

Domon stroked the facial hair nestled under his nose. "Perhaps, except some of men were bed-ridden at the time and they claimed the children appeared as were perfectly healthy and were taken to an unknown section of the hospital and never reemerged."

"So? You've hired me to find some damned brats?" Kakuzu seethed, his short fuse beginning to burn bright from being roped along with the man's dull storytelling. He was not a man of patience or tolerance.

"No need, already did myself. And from I can deduce, those poor children are likely dead. Now I ask you listen for just a bit more. I promise this shall all tie together nicely and you will understand why it was this mission was of the highest priority." After a moment, Kakuzu relented his murderous impulse, giving the man only a few more minutes to conclude his story before he strangled him himself and upturned the place for his payment. Instead, he concentrated on his alcohol, the only reason his sanity remained intact.

Sensing the thick cloud of tension infesting the air, Domon reached into his vest pocket and withdraw a crumpled package of cigarettes. He tapped the box on the table until a single stick slithered out and tucked the cancer stick between his lips.

"I got curious from all these happenings and decided to investigate myself. I trailed the quacks from the hospital and listened in, tried to see if they would allow anything to slip about any goings within that hospital. Several weeks got almost nothing, a few names thrown about and code, nothing that could be used. Then, finally, one of them dropped a bombshell and it all made sense." Kakuzu quietly awaited the 'bombshell' as Domon lit his cigarette and inhaled before releasing the smoke slowly. "The Mayfly." Thunder boomed overhead as the word was spoken, adding to the ominous vide it emitted.

Kakuzu hadn't heard that bloodline since his imprisonment during the Second World War. Now the kekkei genkai was only heard of in history books and told to misbehaving children to frighten them straight. No one dared speak of it, not even in hushed whispers. Its once worshipped existence had become a taboo in itself.

"The Mayfly?" He questioned quietly, the phrase feeling foreign on his tongue. Domon nodded, taking another drag. "How is that possible? The Mayfly was eradicated after the Second World War."

"That is what we would like to know also. You see why it was we enlisted you and the promised payout was so impressive now, yes?" Yes, yes he did. Implying the Mayfly existed was certainly interesting indeed. He was curious himself now. "Now, care to hear the conspiracy theory we have constructed?"

Kakuzu sighed, adjusting him in his seat. "If I must."

Domon tucked his fingers underneath the fabric of his headband and tugged it, a cloud of smoke of billowing from the neckline before he resecured the forehead protector. "Now then, we believe that hospital is just a front, a cover up, and there must be some secret corridor or level. It explains the copious amounts of quacks roaming about and the missing children, yes? They must be using the kids as experiments, or worse, food. If the Mayfly is indeed involved, it would be no surprise. Might also explain the lack of patients, yes? Perhaps those which were ill or crippled were hoarded away for extra fodder." He stamped out his cigarette on the wooden table. "Also, we suspect Kusagakure is being funded from the outside. No possible way they could afford everything themselves, especially since they're still in debt to the Five Nations for their sins during the Second World War. Our theory? Konohagakure. Not only would they have experience with reviving a dead bloodline, the Senju bloodline yet with limited results, they also have motive. A small army of Mayfly wielders could easily cause opposing forces, such as us, to withdraw and it would cement their position of superpower as they would then successfully possess the strongest kekkei genkais to ever exist. Yes?"

"I can see why this would be a conspiracy theory." Kakuzu mumbled after a few moments of proceeding everything the captain had rattled out. He swallowed down his sake to assist with befuddled brain cells but the lingering buzz only scattered them more. "So then, not only do you suspect that Kusagakure is drabbling in the revival of the Mayfly, but also Konohagakure is involved?" It sounded dumber spoken aloud than in his head.

"Yes."

"Well then, if you're so sure on all of this. Why don't you just investigate it yourself? Seems you have evidence on the matter." He must've have been getting drunk because he had just possibly made his entire presence void with that single question. Thankfully, that was not the case.

"Well, primarily for one reason. First being, my men and I are under constant threat from Konohagakure who are just camped across the river. And with Kumogakure now breathing down our necks, I need all my men on hand for the real possibly of farther ambush. Also, a have a week left until I can return to Iwagakure and I plan to survive that week so I can see my wife and the birth of my firstborn. Would you like to see pictures of my wife, Kira?"

"No."

Domon whined at the rejection and removed his hand from his pant pocket where he had already made a grab for his wallet to display pictures of his beautiful wife. "Anyway, safest to include an outside party. On the off chance you are caught or your act is witnessed, it'll be assumed a mercenary group became a bit too greedy for their own good and if we are at all suspected to be connected, then we can just throw you out to the wolves to protect ourselves, yes?"

Kakuzu stared at the blonde flatly. "I better get payment for the bullshit I've been placed through before I leave to chase fairytales."

Domon sniffed. "I suppose I could spot you some of the money under the table, yes? Only if it ensures your devotion to this situation."

"I promise nothing."

"You will have to if you desire the rest of your payment." Domon stood up from the table and returned to the heavy chest behind his chair. He inputted the code for the lock and yanked the chest open again before groping around for its hidden contents. After a moment, he withdrew a thick file of paperwork in one hand and the other clenched three neat stacks of paper money. Immediately, Kakuzu's interest was rekindled. Domon took his seat again and tossed the folder onto the table before dumping the wads of cash on top of it. Kakuzu made a grab for the money first as he weighed each stack in his hand before fingering through the bills, making a quick estimate of the amount.

"This should suffice." He said and shoved the stacks into the pocket of his coat before he picked up the file and opened it. Domon emitted a sigh of relief.

"The file contains copies of everything gathered at this point. Maps, interviews, and my personal notes." He supplied as Kakuzu flipped through the various papers which had been stuffed inside. "It should be enough information for you to conceive a plan on how to get into the hospital."

"And once I am inside, what exactly am I looking for?"

"Any evidence of the existence of Mayfly and any connection to Konohagakure or whichever village is funding them. Files, samples, hell, if you bring an entire person with the bloodline out, that would be perfect." Kakuzu snorted at the last option. He had fought those with the bloodline during the First World War and knew from personal experience it was not that easy. No doubt worse now due to those mutations. "If you are unable to find anything or prove this entire thing was a simple misunderstanding, you will still be paid for your troubles, but only a quarter the amount. Yet, still a pretty penny, yes?" Not particularly, but money was money, so Kakuzu chose not to complain.

"Very well."

"After you get out with any information you acquired, you will return here and shall be given your payment then can go on your way, yes?"

"Preferably." Kakuzu downed his last warm drink and stood, shrugging on his damp coat and tucking the file under his arm, more than prepared to give his farewells and leave. He had about enough of the man with the speech impediment and smoker's rattle as he could stomach for a lifetime.

Noticing this, Domon stood as well, extending his hand in another attempt for a shake with the hired man. "Thank you for accepting this offer despite the trouble that had been caused and the general unbelievableness of the situation." Kakuzu eyed the captain's hovering hand for a solid minute before submitting and grasping it with his own gloved hand, giving it a firm shake only to release it the next second but Domon was satisfied.

"There's an empty building across the way. Used to be a restaurant of some sort but we cleared it out to use as extra shelter in case of an ambush. You can use it for the night. Cheaper than renting a hotel, yes? I'll have my men carry over a cot for you."

"No need." Kakuzu dismissed. "I'll take it as is."

Domon sniffed. "Well alright, if you're sure, yes? Have a comfortable night then and good luck."

Kakuzu did not return the man's blessing as he made haste from the tower with the proper filing in hand. The rain had not let up the slightest during his meeting and he was politely escorted from the building by the same nervous chunin before the door was promptly slammed and locked behind him, leaving him in the pouring rain. Thankfully, if there was one credit he was capable of giving the captain, it was his accuracy with directions as after a few minutes of walking directly forward through the fog, and Kakuzu stumbled upon the hallowed restaurant.

The wrecked structure had no door so he ducked inside to escape the rain but discovered the inside was no better. Holes were punched in the ceiling, permitting water to leak inside in rivers and drench the floorboards which emitted a detestable reek and without a door, it was as cold as the outside. It was free however, far cheaper than a hotel, so again, Kakuzu did not complain as he sought out a dry spot to sit.

During his search, his foot collided with a lantern which had been carelessly left behind and when he picked it up and dusted it off, leftover oil splashed within much to his relief. With the lantern in hand, he managed to discover a dry area in the very corner of the café and removed his trench coat and muddy boots, setting them aside to dry before he sat down. He regretted rejecting the offer of a bed but he would be damned if he went crawling back for one. Though, he should have least stolen the rest of that sake.

After some fiddling, he lit the lamp and positioned it so enough light was illuminated and bounced off the walls for him as he dumped off the contents of the folder. The file hadn't been too particularly thick and shifting through the paperwork proved how hearsay the whole situation was. Only Domon's notes recounted the mention of Mayfly but then it had only been one occasion with no other evidence listed to verify it yet been enough to spook that old croak Tsuchikage enough to scramble up assistance from a up and coming mercenary group to investigate. If the Mayfly did exist, it proved how fearful Iwagakure was of it and the distinct advantage Konohagakure or any village would have over them and possibly others. This could shift the war in ways never seen before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: The Woodlands are just the region Kusagakure is located in since an official name was never given.


	4. Arc 1: Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demonstration for the Council is approaching so K-MF-001 is given one last test run to show what the Mayfly can do before being unleashed on Iwa.

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc:**

**Chapter 3**

_Attention: Please evacuate the area for the loading and unloading of [K-MF-001]. Only authorized staff is permitted in the area. All other staff is advised to leave the floor or retreat to a protected zone to avoid major injury or death. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill._

Read feminine recording monotonously, the voice echoing throughout every floor and corridor of the laboratories for every person present to hear and heed to. Those unassigned to the unloading but were working the bottom floor quickly retreated to the higher floor for safety. Those on the top floor resumed their duties, disregarding the warning.

"Alpha, are we clear for unloading? Over." Ryouta spoke into the two-way radio in his hand as he paced the observation chamber, watching the small, boxy monitor which displayed the black-and-white view of the cameras installed in the lower floor which harboured K-MF-001.

The radio crackled for several seconds before a voice responded from the other side. "Yes sir. Alpha is prepping the chamber for unloading. Over." The monitored flickered and a team of five animal masked men clad in black cloaks were seen marching through the chamber towards the vault which 001 was contained within, one of them wheeling a dolly which was laced with steel chaining.

"Roger. Do not do any unnecessary harm to K-MF-001 during unloading or loading. We need him in perfect condition for the field test tomorrow. Over."

"Roger that." Ryouta secured the walky-talky in his white coat and sat down at the table alongside Tarou who was also present to observe the testing as he always did, though not remotely as flustered as his companion as he sat perfectly relaxed with his legs propped on the table.

"You need to relax, Ryouta. It is just another routine test. 001 has done a dozen of these without incident." The obese man reassured the twitchy scientist as he watched the monitor, following the team as they navigated the long, steel hallway. "The worse which might happen to 001 becomes peckish and decides to make a snack out of one of those fellows handling him. If that happens, the council will just supply us another poor bastard to replace him."

"It's not 001 I am concerned about. He's worth more than any living person on this green earth and I don't want one of those bastards breaking him." Ryouta replied, gnawing on his thumb nail as the team finally made it to the vault door and took their positions with weapons prepared as the humorous locks on the vault door were slowly undone.

"Relax, Ryouta. Oh, I know exactly what you need," Tarou heaved himself from his chair and waddled over to a cabinet that the monitor sat upon monitor. He yanked it open, revealing it to be empty of files as he withdrew instead a bottle of expensive liquor instead. He plucked two cups from the water cooler before returning to the table and laying out a cup for each of them. "I was saving this for tomorrow as celebration but I feel you could use it now." He poured them both a cup of the rich liquid, handing Ryouta his own cup and the man sipped at it, the hard alcohol strickening his mouth and throat with a refreshing burn but failing to calm him as kept an eye on the monitor.

The vault door was finally unlocked and automatically sluggishly swung outward. Once there was a considerable amount of space, the cloaked figures tossed in grenades and the screen went white for seconds straight as the flash bangs mutely exploded. When the picture returned, only two of the men remained, arms cocked to toss in more flash bangs as the rest were inside the vault, securing K-MF-001 for transportation. After a few minutes, the rest of the group finally emerged, unscathed and wheeling out the unstable experiment which had been restrained to the dolly with the unpenetrateable metal chaining and blinded with a leather mask which doubled as a muzzle. The sight of the bound man struggling made Ryouta release the breath he had been holding in and he downed his drink before requesting a refill.

K-MF-001 was transported to the testing chamber, a brightly lit and large, reinforced steel rink which the observation chamber oversaw safely from several feet off the ground. Blood stained the metal flooring and walls from past testing and a few wooden dummies had been laid out at random points around the chamber. Normally, live targets were used in testing but due to being unable to capture Iwagakure hostages for bait, the dummies had been fitted with stolen Iwagakure headbands and vests instead for illusion.

Alpha team wheeled the thrashing experiment into the stadium and once inside, proceeded with the precarious task of unraveling the man without incident. They hadn't had an incident in the last five sessions and intended of keeping that streak going. One member was positioned in the loading hallway, at the ready with the door, whilst two others loosened the chains around K-MF-001 and the remaining two were posed to retain the subject if he broke from his restraints prematurely or made a grab for one of the men.

Ryouta stood at the control panel which regulated several functions of the testing rink with his finger posed above the speaker button, ready to yell at the lot if they did anything he deemed too rough or unnecessary during his prized experiment's release. Thankfully, no excessive harm was done to the subject and once the chains were sufficiently loosened and freed of the dolly, the supplied shinobi removed the muzzle and made haste back into the safety of the hallway, the door was sealed tight behind as K-MF-001 tossed off the chains with an enraged roar. He kicked the steel bindings across the gym, they striking the metal walling with a cringing, resounding crash. He glanced around the rink, snarling at the dummies before his attention was diverted by the sound of the megaphone being switched on with a whine.

"001," Ryouta spoke into the microphone, K-MF-001 briefly acknowledging his creator at the mention of his subject number. "This is your last test before your field test tomorrow. Mind giving us a show?" His only reply was the excessive drooling seeping from the experiment's snarling jowls.

Ryouta observed from behind the safety glass of the chamber whilst Tarou watched the monitor, both sipping their drinks. K-MF-001 paced about liked a caged tiger for several seconds, circling the wooden dummies and instantly Ryouta became uneasy again. Normally, the man did not hesitate upon attacking the bait, tearing it to unidentifiably shreds within a span of seconds. Instead, the ebony-haired male resumed his leisurely stalk of the targets, almost disregarding them as he emitted a bored yawn and scratched the lettering inked into his face. His Mayfly hadn't even been activated yet.

Ryouta looked back at Tarou nervously, grasping his foam cup tightly. "This is not being recorded for the council's viewing, is it?"

"Of course not." Tarou dismissed, itching his second chin. "We have already been approved to proceed with the field test. The council requires no more evidence. Maybe 001 isn't interested because this is the first test without live targets?" Perhaps.

Ryouta returned his viewing to his experiment which had no longer taken interest in the dummies and was fiddling with the stained white jumpsuit he was dressed in. The scientist activated the microphone again. "001 were you not clear on your instructions?" He shouted though this time he was not spared a reaction as K-MF-001 seemed more interested in the devouring of his clothing as he chewed on the zipper. "001!"

"No need to yell at the dumb animal, Ryouta. Here, allow me to try something." Ryouta freely allowed his boss to take over as Tarou strolled to the control panel, distracting himself with his generous drink.

"Alpha," Tarou spoke into his own two-way. "K-MF-001 seems to refuse to cooperate. Would mind escorting him back to his chambers? Over."

"Roger."

"Tarou-sama," Ryouta gasped, leaping to Tarou's side. "This is 001's last test. I would recommend that we-" But his pleas were hushed as Tarou held up a thick hand, interrupting him as the door to the testing chamber was reopened. K-MF-001's attention was immediately stolen from his plastic snack as he turned towards the soldiers, snarling lowly and naked flesh between his shoulder blades began to bulge and swell at the approaching threat as the full fleet marched in, prepared to restrain him once more. Suddenly, a heavy hammering echoed throughout the chamber. The five men froze in their tracks and ever so slowly, turned their sights around. Their only exit had been locked shut behind them.

Ryouta's startled gaze settled on Tarou, the man's fat finger pressed down on the button which controlled the main unloading door and that could only be opened from the other side. He had locked them in with K-MF-001 without a second's hesitation.

"Tarou-sama…" The scientist whispered, realizing what his employer had just done. He had just potentially abolished a decade's worth of work and broken the council's trust in a single swoop.

An inhumane screech caused him to return his attention back to the testing chamber and he saw K-MF-001, fists clenched and crooked canines bared, his Mayfly having finally been activated and a grand Rafflesia flower bloomed from the flesh his back, its thick petals uncurling like velvety tendrils. Ryouta was unsure whom he was more concerned about at the moment.

As K-MF-001 took a step towards the trapped shinobi, the hardened assassins steeled themselves for the fight of their lives. After another imposing step, one of the men threw a flash bang to distort him as the others charged in and the rink filled with blinding light an instant later which made Ryouta wince and shield his watering green orbs. His ears rung from trauma but through it, he could hear the muffled shrieking of K-MF-001 as well as crashing and the popping of more flash bangs. K-MF-001's death seemed sealed, until a human scream rang out, followed shortly by another, and another, and it was obvious the abomination had garnered the upper hand on his opponents. Ryouta rubbed his eyes and blinked them rapidly, attempting to regain his sight and witness the chaos which was ensuing below when something smashed into the safety glass before them, making him flinch and gag. It was a severed arm. The limb glided down the glass, smearing it with thick, dark blood before it tumbled to the floor.

Finally having restored a portion of sight, Ryouta turned to peer past the blood stained glass but it proved fruitless as the chamber was fogged with a pink mist, a byproduct of K-MF-001's Mayfly. The screaming died down, dissolving into wet gurgling as the airborne poison took its effect and after several tense seconds, the mist thinned. The chamber was in shambles. Blood and organic substance painted the walls and enough force had been driven into them to actually dent the foot-thick steel. Bodies littered the floor, only one being considered in a single piece as the other's had had limbs torn off and one even decapitated.

K-MF-001 stood in the midst of the carnage, unharmed except for bleeding lacerations where kunai and senbon had been embedded in various spots on his body and bruises, his jumpsuit a deep red from the blood soaked into the fabric. The Rafflesia sprouted from his back twitched, the red and purple speckled flower emptying the last of its potent essence before it crumpled and wilted away, melting away back into the experiment's pale skin. He proceeded to carelessly pluck out the weapons embedded in his body, unflinching as some of the wounds were torn open farther and split more blood, when something caught his eye.

One of the serviceman had survived the carnage, though hardly, and was weakly dragging himself away from the berserk man, leaving a wet trail of blood from the stump where his leg had once been. K-MF-001 ignored the remainder of the blades jutting from his skin stalked the owl-masked man like a cat playing with its prey, following him about the chamber. Cornered, the dying man halted against a wall and in one last feeble attempt, tossed a handful of senbon at the monster. The experiment made no attempt to dodge the needles as they lodged themselves into his scarred face, one narrowly missing one of his red orbs and he screeched, more so in vocalized anger rather than pain. He thrashed his head about, freeing a few of the sharp needles before screaming again and lunging onto the shinobi. The injured solider echoed the scream with his own of a higher pitch as the subject's wide jowls clamped onto his skull, crushing the bone like glass. The man kicked and screamed as his neck proceeded to be angled at an impossible shape and shattered with a dull series of popping to which he became deathly limp, his yelling silenced forever. K-MF-001 jerked the dead victim's head about until the tender flesh of the neck ruptured and he yanked the entire head free from the corpse, a good portion of the spine slithering out along with. He tossed the unwanted skull aside before hungrily devouring the freshly warm carcass. The head bounced a few feet before rolling to a stop and the bird-like mask falling off, revealing the man's face, frozen eternally with a pure petrification.

"Well then, I would say that was without a doubt K-MF-001's most successful test. The Mayfly is a fearful thing, isn't it? Imagine the field test when he'll have the ability to phase about." Tarou chirped, unbothered by the massacre as he walked back to the table, refilling his cup with more alcohol as celebration. Ryouta swallowed thickly, averting his eyes from his experiment happily enjoying his meal below and sighed. He felt a slight guilt for the poor men which had just been fed to the abomination, but his pride as a scientist and of K-MF-001 brought an unspoken was relief it was them which lay dead and not his years of hard work. Yet, he felt the slightest bit sick, the first time in several tests and the deaths of many human targets, including children. He dismissed it as anxiety and not his long dead conscious creeping back.

"I'll write a letter to council apologizing for the misfortune which those fellows met." Tarou explained simply as Ryouta rejoined him, pouring himself another drink also to soothe his queasy stomach. "After tomorrow, I'm sure they will forgive a few deaths. K-MF-001 is worth an army of them. What were they again? Stem? Branch? Something silly as that."

"How are we going to escort K-MF-001 back to his vault though, Tarou-sama?" Ryouta asked quietly after a moment of silence, eyeing the monitor as K-MF-001 grew bored of his current meal and lumbered over to another body to chew upon. In the background, Ryouta could hear the wet ripping of flesh as the experiment ate. He poured himself another shot.

"Oh pity, did not think of that." Tarou said, though his tone did not betray any of his apparent 'pity'. "Hmm…well, I'll just gather together some of our staff to do it. After tomorrow, we'll have no need for them when the project is handed over to the council." Ryouta merely nodded, not daring to question which staff Tarou considered expendable enough for the task. Hopefully, it wasn't him since after tomorrow, his position would be in jeopardy as well. Luckily, he would be transferred. "Are you aware if Kiyoshi has returned from his break?"

The question interrupted the ebony-haired man's thoughts. "Kiyoshi? Uhh…not that I know of. He should return tomorrow. If not then the day after."

Tarou clicked his tongue. "Pity. I'll have to find someone else to move 001 then." He sipped his drink, perfectly calmly so. "You're free to leave Ryouta, no need for you at the moment. Might I suggest rehearsing a speech for the council? I'm positive they'll want to congratulate you personally for your assistance in purging Kusagakure of those Iwagakure rats."

Ryouta only nodded. He swallowed down the rest of his drink, supplying his boss a brief thank you before gladly leaving the observation room and his deranged employer behind. He prayed for whoever Tarou decided to lock in the same room as K-MF-001.


	5. Arc 1: Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwa's encampment is attacked and it thought to be by Konoha until they learn the ugly truth.

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 4**

The morning following the meeting, the peaceful atmosphere of the sleepy complex was shattered by the wailing of the emergency sirens. They were currently under attack. The troops of the encampment were yanked from their slumbers and scrambled to assemble their defensives. A moment later, the Explosive Corps barged into their captain's quarters to retrieve him.

"Captain Katsu!" The highest ranking soldier of the platoon yelled as they entered but his screams fell on deaf ears as Domon had been roused by the alarms and was already suiting up as he shrugged on his vest.

"What's the situation? Is it Konohagakure? Do we have a visual? Injuries?" The blonde questioned without a breath as he secured his red forehead protector around his neck and replaced his glasses with a pair of perspiration googles.

"W-We're unsure, sir. The alarms were sounded but no fighting has been viewed or heard of." The second-in-command shuttered. "It might be a false alarm. Shirou might have fallen asleep on the button again." The man emitted an awkward laughter at the light joke but it was not responded to by his captain's own laughter and he quickly fell silent.

Domon's reply was merely a scowl. "Then let's find out, yes?" He groped for his satchel and draped it across his chest before escorting his squad from the guard tower.

Outside, the siren resumed its blaring, preventing any ability of hearing the supposed attack, whether it be shouting or the clashing of metal, but visually, all was calm and serene as the previous night's violent storm has relaxed into a casual rainfall. No explosions, people fleeing or dust flying. Just the same sight as with the guard tower, confusion, as around the camp, other teams had stepped outside, dressed and armed to the teeth though unable to predict where the battle currently was or there even was one. As Domon stepped outside, the remaining befuzzled teams migrated to join him and the Explosive Corps, awaiting their directions or explanation. One of these being Kakuzu, who had been awoken by the alarm the same as everyone else.

"The hell is happening?" The miser demanded, irritated his two hour rest after his all-nighter had been rudely interrupted.

"We haven't a clue." Domon replied simply, adding a shrug for extra measure to portray his own cluelessness on the situation. "Someone from the second guard tower sounded the siren which would mean we were under attack, yes? But nothing is to be seen. Usually, if it was Konohagakure, at least a few of their shinobi would have broken our defenses and would raiding the encampment."

"Maybe it's Kumogakure?" A random solider guessed aloud. Discussion erupted on the matter but was disturbed when a Genin was seen running toward them.

"Captain Katsu!" The boy gasped, skidding to a halt in the mud before the man and catching his breath. "Reporting."

"What's happening, Natsu? Do we have a visual?" Domon asked once the crier regained his lost breath.

"N-No we do not, sir. The a-alarm was sounded and Team 2 and 7 left to initiate the enemy but there was none! So they're securing Guard Tower 2 in case the enemy attacked them and I was told to report to you, sir!" The young shinobi rambled out to his superior. Domon scowled and clicked his tongue. By all the evidence, the whole fiasco had been indeed a false alarm. An absolutely waste of time and unneeded panic.

"Natsu, return to Guard Tower 2 and inform Shirou, or whoever signaled the alarm to report to me. Immediately."

"Yes sir!" Natsu saluted the man before turning and running back to rejoin his platoon assigned farther within the camp. Once the Genin was gone, Domon addressed the remaining flustered shinobi who were arguing aloud with each other if there was an enemy or not.

"Alright everyone, return to your posts. It was a false alarm, there is nothing t-" Suddenly, the very second those word's escaped the blonde's furry lips, the second guard tower on the opposite side of the camp erupted into a massive fireball.

Everyone were tossed to the ground from the deliberating shockwave which was amplified from the explosion, enough force being exerted that windows were shattered and bits of rumble were shaken free from the crumbling structures. Once the shockwave had passed them by and everyone had regained their footing, they had to quickly avoid the flaming debris which showered them including hefty chucks of rock like a meteor shower.

"Fuck me…" Domon seethed as he gazed towards the black smoke which billowed from the location the tower had once been, now just a smoldering shell of brick and glass. Such a thing had never happened before and something told him this invasion would be vastly different from the rest. The reek in the air which followed the explosion, confirmed his suspicions and his worse fears. Unlatching the binding on his satchel, he next yanked off one of gloves and dove his hand into the bag, scooping up the earthy contents within. Upon seeing this, Kakuzu suddenly remembered where he had heard the name of Katsu before.

Withdrawing his hand, he opened his moist palm to reveal five clay dog-like figures, the tongue extending from his hand finishing off a few minute designs. He tossed them to the ground and activated them with a single handsign, causing the creations to burst into a cloud of white smoke. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared to reveal the clay figures had expanded several times their original size and gained sentience as the featureless, pure white dogs shook their heads and stretched before gathering around their master for orders. All the present shinobi, minus Kakuzu, did so too.

"All right, obviously, I was wrong, and we are under attack, yes?" A few laughs were uttered at the captain's joking but were soon hushed as Domon resumed. "And obviously, these are not our normal Konohagakure foes. They've never launched such an assault such as this and I realize why that is. Everyone smells that, yes?" Instantly, the soldiers begin to intently sniff the smoggy air. Besides the smoke, it smelt of one other thing. Gas. Their reactions resulted closely the same. Horror. "Uchiha." Domon concluded, resisting the own anxiety which sprung up within him at the name. He had never encountered an Uchiha as an enemy, only heard the horror stories about the wielders of the master bloodline. That all changed today. He withdrew a cigarette and tucked it between his lips. After lighting it and taking a drag to soothe himself, he returned his attention to his spooked fleet.

"We're going to divide into four groups." He announced, his soft-spoken hardening to role of leader. "Team 1 and 10, you are taking the right, towards Guard Tower 2, see if you can find any survivors and back those Uchiha bastards off. Team 4, you are taking the left. Both you and Team 1 and 10 will be focused on pressing them back into a single space. Team 9 and 8, you will round the back, whilst the Explosive Corps and I charge them from the front. If we manage to box them in, then we can easily pick them off, yes?" A round of nodding answered his question. "Perfect, now go! And whatever you do, do not look into their eyes."

"Yes, sir!" And with that, the Iwagakure shinobi separated into their assigned teams and retreated to their appointed positions. Once they had departed, diverted his attention to Kakuzu who had been quietly viewing the entire speech. "This doesn't concern you. Its best you pack up and leave whilst you can. Need you alive to investigate that hospital, yes?"

Despite his loathing for being ordered about, Kakuzu begrudgingly agreed. "I'll agree to leave, if you agree not to go blow yourself up. I need you alive for my paycheck."

Domon laughed, taking the jab towards his kekkei genkai on the chin. "Yes, yes. Good luck."

Kakuzu only grunted, before retreating back inside the restaurant to retrieve his belongings and leave whilst the Iwagakure and Konohagakure torn each other apart. It was their war, not his. He was only here to collect a paycheck. Nothing more.

"Alright, Explosive Corps, march!"

"Yes, sir!"

With that, Domon led his platoon towards the smoldering wreckage on the farther side of the camp. The black smoke drifting from the crumbled tower obscured their vison of both friend or foe and Domon ordered the pack of Claymation hounds into the fog, the dogs barreling into the darkness to seek out the Konohagakure foe sneaking about under the safety of the smoke and drag them into the light. Meanwhile, the members of the Explosive Corps withdrew flashbangs and their own smoke bombs, waiting on their captain's orders to act. Domon glanced around and caught a glimpse of movement on either side of them, identifying the sandy brown colour of their vests as his men as they rounded the rotting buildings to flank from their respective side. Domon felt the anxiety return.

There had been no confrontation yet, not with his men nor his hounds and there wasn't a hint of foreign life. Either these enemies, Uchiha or not, were highly advanced in stealth, or there was nothing and the tower explosion had been a fatal error on one of his men. He wasn't sure which he feared more.

As the steady downfall extinguished the flames, the smoke thinned and Domon squinted his eyes to peer through. His blood ran ice cold. There was no army, not even a single squad. Just a figure. A sole large, muscled individual in the fog just standing there, unmoving, and undisturbed as Domon's artificial dogs shuffled around them. The creatures were blind, so instead they focused on detecting chakra signatures to guide them. But there were none, so the hounds wondered, aimlessly around the person. The person were perfectly cloaked. Then two blood red orbs pierced the grey and Domon realized how much he hated being right.

"Fire!"

The air swelled with the whistling of bombs of variety being thrown into the smoke and exploding into an array of white smoke and blinding light. The same moment, the teams which had been flanking the area of interest lep into the fray, flooding the sky with waves of kunai and shuriken which arced downward and riddled whoever the figure was with the sharp objects. Once their arterially was launched, the soldiers took their distance and Domon detonated his kekkai genkai.

"Katsu!" The dogs' clay flesh swelled and they ballooned twice their original size until they raptured into a combustion of white light and fire.

**…**

Kakuzu was dressing in his coat when the second explosion occurred. He swore aloud as the ensuring shockwaves rolled over the café, tossing him around and causing the brick structure to tremble threateningly, coming within inches of toppling over atop of the masked man but by luck, remained intact with only an entire wall tumbling inward, scattering the wood-rotten floor with dust and brick. Kakuzu brushed himself off and from the now expanded window, he saw a mushroom cloud bloom into the grey sky before being blown away by the wind.

"Bastard," He snarled, shoving the folder into his coat. "I told him not to blow himself up."

Without a moment more, he stomped outside, eager to leave the battlefield before he was involved when something peculiar caught his eye. A few meters away, the ground was swollen like an object of such had been smuggled under the crumbling paving. And it was moving. Kakuzu watched, intrigued as the area shifted and bobbed until finally, a shapeless, pale figure began to materialize from the ground, upwards until it stood the same approximate height as a human. Once freed, the blank features chiseled into muscles which extended into limbs and black locks which sprouted from a head and Kakuzu realized a man had just emerged from the ground. Then, he realized why the man had.

' _God damnit…that bastard was onto something.'_ Was his only thought which came accompanied by a few unwanted war flashbacks.

The nearly formed man twisted his neck about, the bones emitting a soft cracking before he tossed his head about, ruffling his black locks into a messier appearance. Kakuzu stood, still, unsure of the events which would follow. Should he flee? Kill the man? Remain still and wait if he is noticed? He realized he couldn't do the first two however, because the man had already made the choice for him as he craned his head around, his crimson eyes making contact with Kakuzu's miscoloured ones, their wide, crazed stare highlighted by the black ink around his eyes. They were the eyes of man that had long ago vacated the depths of his sanity. His unnaturally hunched form straightened and cracked lips curled back into a lop-sided grin, uncovering his rows of sizable canines. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, and flexed his shoulder blades, the porcelain animal masks stitched to his back shifting as threads crept from beneath them and carefully detached them from the skin. Seems this war had found its way to him.

Abruptly, the man's head snapped forward, eyes focusing on the remaining smoke which polluted the air and muffled voices ahead. Kakuzu awaited his attention to return to him, muscles bulging with extra threading as he prepared for a fight, but it did not as the man cracked his neck again and the bare flesh of his back began to bubble like a pot of hot water. The skin tore cleanly and a thick, red bulb peeked from between his shoulder blades, inching out until splitting open into five wide petals which rolled out like wagging tongues that extended half the length of the man's own body. Suddenly, Kakuzu was stricken with a foul stench which made his stomach heave and mouth water in anticipation of tossing last night's booze and he clenched his hand over his nose, clamping the dark fabric of his bandana safely over his nose from farther assault. It reminded him of a rotted corpse which had been left in direct sunlight for months and been used as a dumping site for local wilderness.

Regardless of his watering eyes, Kakuzu retained his attention on the trespasser, however, the other man had appeared to have lost all interest in Kakuzu as his concentration remained on the smoke and dust in the distance. With one last regarding glance, the man-plant hybrid began stalking away towards the commotion, each step taken sinking farther and farther into the ground until his body melted back into the sodden dust and he disappeared from sight and existence. Kakuzu swore at himself again. He had just allowed his paycheck to vanish, and worse enough, it was heading directly for his benefactor of said paycheck.

**…**

After several seconds, the dust finally settled from the detonation. The Iwagakure shinobi removed their goggles and brushed their hair free of debris, gazing in silent amazement at the hefty crater which remained from their captain's kekkai genkai. Domon, however, sniffed at the lack of gore or severed limbs in the pit. Not even a speck of blood. The person has escaped his jutsu. How? He haven't a clue but he did not place anything past the Uchiha. His only relief, it appeared there was only one attacker, but the relief with minimal. If they were not wary, one man would be all it took to eliminate them all.

He gestured towards the bedazzled soldiers. "Search for survivors." The men hastily reclaimed themselves and obeyed as they spread out to check the remnants of the second guard tower and surrounding buildings also, mindful of their unwelcomed guest which walked amongst them. Afterwards, Domon addressed his own fleet. "Guard the perimeter. I want every inch of it booby-trapped. Anyone in here with us, won't be leaving alive."

The members of the Explosive Corps nodded before each of them separated into four different directions to trap their settlement swiftly. Meanwhile, Domon found himself rather calm, despite their situation and credited his optimist attitude, or perhaps the ashy cigarette in his mouth. His wife and her father, which just so happened to be the current Tsuchikage, sassed him frequently for his smoking habit, especially with a child soon to arrive, and told him to stop smoking. Even was ordered to. But these were times of war, and the cigarettes in his pocket were his only comfort until he was safety home again. Today, he would smoke like a furnace, he concluded, as he flicked the spent cancer stick to the dirt before replacing it with another and lighting it, filling his dusty lungs with the placebo for euphoria and shifting his headband aside to release the spent fumes.

"Captain Katsu! We found a survivor!" One of the Jounin screamed as his two teammates proceeded to heave a battered body from the wreckage of the tower.

They dumped the person safely feet away before stumbling away, coughing and gagging. As Domon approached, he realized why they had suddenly been so overcome with asthma-este attacks as the reek of death and roasted flesh flooded his nostrils. He clamped his hand over his nose and took another drag to filter out the stench simmering in his throat. The obvious lone survivor had been singed initial explosion of the tower as his clothing and armor hung from his body in shreds though displayed no farther injuries as the blood staining his flesh was unoccupied by gaping wounds or cuts of equitable size. However, that didn't mean he was alive, as when the captain hovered over the convulsing man. He could see the whites of his eyes which were stained a distasteful yellow and mixture of saliva and vomit leaked from his nose and mouth. The obvious signs of severe poisoning. The medics arrived to care for the suffering man but Domon halted their assistance. The man was past the realm of help. All they could do now was gather as much information from him before he perished.

"Shirou," Domon spoke firmly, recognizing the former guard tower. "Shirou, you can speak, yes? What happened?"

Upon the mention of his name, Shirou's eyes rolled from within his head as his glazed orbs stared at the blonde. His tongue poked out between his lips, swiping the pink flesh over his caked lips but they parted to speak. "…A-Ambushed…dead all…" He whispered, weakly, and Domon hunched closer.

"Ambushed by who, Shirou? Who did this? Was it Uchiha?"

"O-O-One…" He gasped, coughing a mouthful of clear bile and chucks of the prior night's digested meal, his convulsing growing more terrible. "On-One…"

"One what, Shirou? One person? Did one person do this?" Domon pressed harder as he witnessed the life beginning to slow dim in the Chunnin's eyes.

"O-O-One…" Shirou merely repeated, inhaling deeply as though to yawn, and the liquid drowning his lungs could be heard. His eyes rolled back again as he exhaled shakily, and Domon began to stand upright again, presuming the man dead when Shirou suddenly jolted up and grasped his vest halting his ascent, yellowed grey orbs wide and quivering as they stared into the reflective surface of his leader's goggles. "D-D-Don't…breath the m-mist…d-don't…burn!"

And with that, the man shuttered violently, vomit spraying from his dry lips before he collapsed against the muddy roading, eyes dulling and jaw going slack, finally accepted by death's cold embrace. Domon sighed, brushing off the digestive matter from his clothing before standing. The medics clad the guard's body with a clean, white sheet before it was carried away to be later buried alongside their fallen brethren. His funeral would be delayed however, until his murderer was brought to justice.

Shortly after, the rest of Shirou's squad were recovered, all dead as he said. The heavy charring to their bodies and yellowed orbs made it difficult to predict how they had perished, whether it had been by the poisoning or being burned alive. Or both. They were laid alongside their teammate. The bodies were beginning pile, and they had yet to find the culprit. Worst case scenario, they had escaped which spelt disaster for them, especially if they had uncovered a chink in their armor. Best case scenario, they were still within the camp, though that was a hardly as until they were captured or killed, the remaining lot of them were in danger.

"Captain!"

Domon glanced in the direction of the call and blinked in surprise as their Akatsuki contact approached from behind, for an unknown reason to the blonde the hulking brunette having chosen to stay rather than leave as instructed.

"Akatsuki." Domon responded, lacking a name which to address the man by. "I thought you left, yes?"

"No." Kakuzu grunted. "I couldn't because this is the direction my paycheck went."

"Paycheck?"

A scream distracted Domon from his interrogation however, as he caught wind of one of his teammates fearfully shouting 'intruder!' before the camp was rocked again by another explosion. This time originating from the border of the encampment. One of the booby traps only set together seconds prior already having been set off. Several startled screams rung out and soldiers fled as in the midst of the raining dirt and knife-sized splinters, hefty portions of trees were catapulted towards them, crashing into the ground with enough force to crush a person into a bloodstain of blood and bone.

The section of tree line which had been blown apart by the explosion had been ignited and flames danced across the tree tops, rapidly spreading as it devoured leaves and branches. The downfall was too weak to smother the fire and due to the encampment being embraced by the overgrown thicket, the blaze threatened to lep onto rooftops and kindle the buildings into a massive unstoppable bonfire.

"Get water! Put out the flames!" Domon yelled. People scattered about to retrieve water to drown the swelling fire. Domon broke into a run towards the bomb site to discover if the teammate or teammates at the area had survived the incident when a hand clamped onto his shoulder and wrenched him backwards. He craned his neck around to see his contact had been the culprit. "The hell? Release me. This does not include you!"

Kakuzu did not reply, his eyes not even upon the blonde as he stared forward, blankly. Domon struggled against the man's ironclad grasp and when it proved fruitless, he glanced about to one of his men to assist him when he noticed something bizarre. Time apparently had frozen around him as his men stood around, perfectly still as statues and silent. The panic and urgency which gripped them a second ago having vanished as they all remained motionless, their eyes focused united towards the glow of the fire, the same as Kakuzu. Domon finally stared before him, curious what had caused everyone to pause in such a way, and instantly, he felt his blood freeze in his veins. He bit down onto his cigarette, warm ashes coating his tongue.

"Is that…the Mayfly?" Domon asked, voice barely scrapping past a whisper as he gazed upon the half-clad, pale man before them, lumbering figure illuminated in the grey by the blaze behind him. But Domon wasn't looking entirely at him. He was looking at the enormous flower which piggybacked him, its petals reflecting the reds and oranges of the flames and extending around him like groping tentacles.

"Yes." Kakuzu replied.

The Mayfly man smiled, his bleeding orbs and inhuman canines shining ominously with the flicker of the firestorm around him. The ink circling his eyes and crossing through his left reading '001'.

Domon realized he no longer hated when he was right. He loathed it.


	6. Arc 1: Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A flashback between Domon and his father-in-law, Ōnoki, and history of what happened to the Mayfly.

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 5**

_One month earlier…_

"Tsuchikage-sama, Domon Katsu of the Explosive Corps. has arrived."

"You have no need to flatter the boy with such an honourable title, Jirou. You can merely introduce him as my disliked son-in-law." Ōnoki replied, scribbling his signature on a package of paperwork before nudging it aside and continuing to the next.

"Very well, Tsuchikage," The male assistant spoke, clearing his throat before correcting himself. "Your disliked son-in-law is here, sir."

"Thank you, Jirou."

The assistant nodded before stepping aside, permitting entry to the Kage's cluttered office as Domon Katsu stepped inside before the door was firmly closed behind him. Ōnoki sparred the blonde man a glance as he awkwardly stood before his desk, the office too clustered to fit any source of seating, and sighed as he returned his focus to the pages upon pages of paperwork he was currently plagued with.

"Couldn't meet me in person, boy?" He questioned, having identified the cleverly disguised clay clone the moment the captain entered his domain.

The clay clone Domon threw his padded shoulders into a shrug. "Too dangerous to leave camp, old man. Not with Konohagakure breathing down our necks. Best I remain with my men rather than take the travel to Iwagakure to drop off some paperwork, yes?" Ōnoki grunted, obviously disapproving of the decision. The again, there was little to nothing he supported Domon on. Especially his marriage to his daughter and general existence.

"Have there been updates, in the least?"

"Depends what you consider an update, yes?" Domon withdrew the file he had smuggled beneath his arm and dumped the swollen folder upon the elder Kage's desk, Ōnoki grumbling as his neatly stacked paperwork was thrown about from the force.

He placed down his quill and opened the faded file, thumbing through the poorly handwritten reports. "Has there been any mention of possible alliances Kusagakure might have?"

"No."

"Names which we can trace?"

"No."

"Evidence which confirms our suspicions?"

"No."

Ōnoki tossed the folder as the cloned and the blonde flinched as he was harmlessly showered in the flying paperwork. "Then what update do you have then, boy!?"

"Well maybe if you read, you'd learn, yes?" Domon whimpered, his victim card failing to influence his father-in-law's abusive behavior. "It's just all hearsay, sir. Nothing we can use yet."

"Then leave my office, boy. I have no time for you until you are able to bring me something usable." Ōnoki pointed firmly at his door until the clone sighed and turned away to leave. Once he did, the old man climbed down from his chair, mumbling about his back and troublesome son-in-laws as he hunched over to retrieve the papers which were scattered upon the floor.

"Does Mayfly mean anything to you?"

The simple, nonchalant question caused Ōnoki to freeze. After a moment, his shock wore away and slowly, he sat up to see Domon leaning against the closed door, patiently awaiting an answer before he left permanently.

"Why?" Ōnoki asked quietly, eyeing his disfavored family member.

"On one of my stakeouts, a couple of quacks passed me by mentioned it. Thought you'd like to know since you refuse to read my report about it, yes?" Yes, yes he would like to know about it. That name hadn't been dared to be muttered since the Second World War. The captain had brought him a bombshell and didn't even realize it.

Ōnoki ushered the blonde man back and Domon resumed his position in front of the heavy desk, perfectly oblivious to that which he just implied. After shutting out the peaceful view of sleepy Iwagakure as the curtains to the windows were drawn for paranoid privacy, the Tsuchikage returned to his chair. "History was not your strongest subject, was it, boy?"

"I got a D." Domon replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He had gone to school to be a shinobi, not to become a historian.

Ōnoki sighed. "Then I will have to educate you because obviously you do not know of the Mayfly."

"No, I do not." Domon wholly admitted though the name rang a distant bell, but nothing came of it. He probably had been asleep during that lesson.

"You do know what a kekkei genkai is?"

"I'm not that dull, old man." Domon sniffled.

Ōnoki scoffed. "I'm surprised. But I shall educate you anyway." Domon admitted a groan at the unwanted history lesson but the old man spared him a glare which said 'you-brought-this-upon-yourself', or perhaps his signature 'You-are-my-dumb-son-in-law-and-I-am-Tsuchikage-so-deal-with-it.'. Either or. "Very well, allow me to start at the very beginning of the dawn of shinobi." Another groan rumbled in Domon's throat but it was suppressed by the pure weight of the glower the Kage smothered him with.

"Now then, let us begin. When shinobi came to be, not all were alike. Some were born with remarkable abilities. These abilities were known as Kekkei Genkai and whilst some argue the Sharingan to be the most superior today, before its extinction, it was the Mayfly. Those which possessed the Mayfly were the definition of the perfection shinobi. Capable of erasing their chakra signatures by fusing themselves with nature itself for the perfect kill and the best sensors around, able to pick up a person's chakra miles away. That was why Kusagakure stood as the world leader for nearly a millennium, because those with the Mayfly hailed from there."

"Is that why you're so ruffled, old man, yes?" The Domon clone guessed aloud as he clicked his slick, silver lighter for the cigarette propped between his stubbly lips. Following the question, a thick, hard-covered book soared into his face, making the clay creation yelp in mock pain and unlit cigarette in his mouth to be crushed from the impact.

"Allow me to finish, boy!" Ōnoki barked, hand settled on another, equally heavy book beside him, readied to toss it as well. Domon whined, gingerly touching his nose that now displayed an unnatural indent that made his glasses sag and nodded hastily to avoid more unneeded abuse as disposed of the ruined cigarette into his vest pocket.

"Good, now before I was rudely interrupted." Ōnoki resumed and Domon permitted himself to relax a little as the old man removed his hand from his novel arsenal. "The Mayfly was the most powerful and feared kekkei genkai of its time. But, that all ended with the Second World War. The thing about kekkei genkai is they do not remain the same throughout generations. They mutate, like viruses, and affects the wielder both physically and mentally. Most times not for the better. I can guarantee a century ago people did not possess the overwhelming desire to eat dirt and those gross mutations you do today, boy." Domon frowned, glancing self-consciously as his gloved hands and cleared his throat quietly, adjusting his bandanna around his neck. "The Mayfly, unfortunately, endured these mutations as well and its power was lost in legend. Today, it is only mentioned for its infamy."

"What type of mutations?" Domon asked carefully, unconsciously tucking another cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

Ōnoki leant heavily into his leather chair, face etched into a deep frown as years of repressed memories resurfaced. "I never knew a wielder of the Mayfly myself, but I heard tales of their pride and dignity. They were true warriors. Never stabbed their enemies in the back and respected their foes. That was why it was obvious something was amiss when the Second World War began and rumours of mass murders and mutilations arose and those with the Mayfly were accused of causing them. I did not believe at first. Then, during a march through a village on the outskirts of Amegakure, I personally witnessed it."

"What happened?" Domon insisted, now genuinely curious as he mindlessly flickered his lighter a few inches off its mark of the cigarette and the bottom of his clay chin began to bubble and distort from the heat.

"The village had been massacred. Everyone. Men, women, even children. It had been a civilian village, not remotely involved in the war. Their bodies, what was left, had been desecrated." Ōnoki flinched, sighing as he sat up, resting his elbows on his desk as he laid against his folded, wrinkled hands. "We were searching for survivors when a shinobi stepped from one of the houses. He was drenched in blood and dragging a body behind him. We identified him as hailing from Kusagakure from his headband and thought he was doing to the same as us and searching for survivors. I remember how he smiled at us and I noticed there was flesh wedged in his teeth. Then, in a blink, his fleet surrounded us, five of them. They emerged from the ground and we had not been able to sense their chakra, not even our sensors. They were equally bloody and wearing the remains of the villagers on their vests. The Mayfly."

Domon emitted a startled gasped. "Wait…they killed those people and…ate them, yes?"

"Yes." Ōnoki nodded, cringing at the memory. "We hardly survived. They attacked us like animals, not with weapons but of teeth and hands. They bore plant-like mutations from their bodies that reflected our blades and avoided our jutsu by fusing into their surroundings. Within minutes, half of my team and two others which had been traveling with us were massacred. We were forced to flee. They captured one of my men and took glee as they ripped him apart, tearing off his legs so he could not run with us. As we fled, I will never forget his screams and the sound that was made as they ate him alive. They were no longer men but creatures from the depths of Hell itself."

"God." Domon gagged. He repacked his cigarette, suddenly not in the mood to satisfy his programmed desire to smoke at the moment.

"What remained of us returned to the current Tsuchikage and reported our findings only to be told there were reports coming from all over about similar attacks by Mayfly users and teams were also going missing at an alarming rate. Not from Iwagakure but all the Hidden Villages involved in the war. We had been one of the lucky few to escape alive. Shortly afterwards, a secret Kage Summit was arranged to address the problem with the Mayfly."

"Wait a minute, the Kages met in the midst of war, yes?"

"They had no choice, boy!" Ōnoki snarled. "This is was no longer about personal disagreements it was about a bloodline that was not only single handingly conjuring the war but slaughtering innocents and shinobi in droves. It was the largest genocide ever witnessed and Kusagakure refused to cooperate. They were winning the war despite the fact their shinobi were freely murdering civilians also. Something had to be done."

"And what was that something?"

Ōnoki sighed. "Mass extermination."

Domon gaped. "They arranged the elimination of an entire bloodline?"

"Yes. For a brief period, the villages worked together to eliminate those with the Mayfly. Kusagakure was infiltrated and those with the bloodline were gathered and executed on the spot. Including women and children and those which displayed no symptoms of this new mutation. It was too far a risk to allow anyone alive that might pose a new threat. It had been witnessed what even one wielder of the Mayfly was capable of."

"I…I never heard of this." Domon whispered, flabbergasted. Or perhaps he had. Afterall, he hardly paid attention in school. "How did something to that degree not cause an uproar or another war?"

"Because it was being handled by the Five Great Shinobi Nations. Each village had its way of hushing people. Whilst I do not know myself of what measures were carried out to ensure silence about the matter, it obviously worked because you can't even find it written in a history book and anyone that blabbed were assumed delusional. The extinction of the Mayfly is commonly explained as the bloodline functioning as a brain cancer and killing those which possessed it which explained why some went insane and resorted to cannibalism. Shortly after, the war was concluded and most of the current Kage retired. Including the Second Tsuchikage whom I was chosen personally to replace. I assume this decision is the cause of most of the Kage's retirements."

Ōnoki stood from his chair, rounding his desk and giving Domon a stern look. "Now do you understand about the degree of this issue, boy? If someone possessing the Mayfly survived and Kusagakure has them in their possession, there is no telling of what their plans are. Nothing good, I assure though." He rubbed his chin, eyes closed thoughtfully. "Kusagakure was left in shambles after the Second World War. They were stripped of their title, bloodline and ordered to repay the entire debt of the war. It is not farfetched they harboured a grudge due to that. It explains their suspicious activity as of late."

"You think they were trying to reproduce the Mayfly, yes?"

"Yes I do. But, we have no evidence of the matter. We have confirmed, however, without a doubt they were in alliance with another village because such a project, if it did exist, would too large for them finically. Someone is funding them and possibly even supplying them."

"Konohagakure?" Domon remarked, stroking his blonde goatee. "I heard they were famous for their science and doctors. Rumour is they are attempting to revive the Senji bloodline. They seem to be the best qualified."

"They are also currently leading this war meaning they have considerable funds." Ōnoki nodded, making Domon grin at the rare approval from his disgruntle father-in-law. "They are a perfect candidate but we cannot assume. We need proof first. If we are able to prove they are indeed assisting such a deplorable project, or any other village, then another Kage Summit will have to be arranged."

"So what's the order, old man? Storm them, yes?"

"No!" Ōnoki barked, pointing a finger at his son-in-law. "You are to avoid any and all confrontation with Kusagakure. If they do have the Mayfly or Konohagakure or other Hidden Village is involved then all you'll be doing is walking you and your men into a trap. Your orders are to remain away but to resume your observations in secret. This revolution shall be between you and I only. Tell no one. I will handle this."

Domon quirked an eyebrow. "You?"

"I am the Tsuchikage! Are you doubting my position, boy?"

"No, no, no." The clone stuttered, holding his hands up in defense before the old man struck him with another book or something worse.

"Good." Ōnoki returned to his chair, picking up his quill and dipping it in his inkwell. "And pick up your mess!"

Domon groaned but obeyed the man as the clone scooped up the paperwork still laying around the office from his prior pelting. After plucking up each paper and arranging them as neatly as possible, he deposited the stack onto his father-in-law's desk before taking his leave to report back to the real Domon.

"Boy." The clone paused, glancing over his shoulder as Ōnoki that looked at him with a solid stare. "I expect to see you back here safely for your leave in two months. If you for any reason miss the birth of my grandchild, I will personally kill you myself."

Domon barked with laugher, waving the older man off. "Don't fret, old man. I wouldn't miss the birth of my child for the world. If I did, Kira would kill me off far before you got to me. Speaking of which, has Kira told you the baby's gender yet?"

"No. She's kept it quite the secret."

"Ah. I hope it's a boy. I've got a few names in mind." Domon mused, adjusting his slipping glasses and smiling softly at the thought of being a father and taking an early retirement to be with his family once and for all.

Ōnoki permitted a smirk to cross his old lips. "Hopefully it doesn't turn out anyway as you. I'd rather not have another mud-eating, multi-mouthed freak running amuck." Domon's smile was quickly erased from the jab and he whined pitifully as the unprovoked insult. "Now away. I will contact you when I have made arrangements about the issue with Kusagakure.

"Fine. Say hi to Kira for me?"

"I'll try to care enough to remember." Ōnoki commented under his breath, returning to his paperwork as the clone left.


	7. Arc 1: Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domon and the Explosive Corps. take on K-MF-001

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 6**

Time itself seemed to freeze before the ominous presence but the flames pranced on, unhindered on the helpless trees behind, and embracing the man with their eerie glow. Those which had fled about to retrieve water stood motionless, buckets and devices that wielded the water lax in their arms and wide eyes fixated on the unwelcomed newcomer. No one dared to move and were fearful to even release a breath too loud. Something bubbled uncomfortably in the pit of Domon's stomach that had never before roused in the face of a foe. Legitimate fear? No, fear of the unknown because everything the old man that foretold to him, it was nothing compared to the actual thing.

The imposing figure remained stationary, grin unwavering, wide and maniacal, and his scarred chest heaving with heavy, rattling breaths. The flower stretching from his back flexing its long petals and faintly shuddering, emitting a low hissing that only those closest could hear. The eyes of the soldiers fixated onto their captain, silently pleading him to give an order or explain this sudden enemy so they could proceed but Domon was lost also. Whisked away in the rushing river of a million thoughts between concerns for his missing teammate and recalling his father-in-law's tales of those which mirrored demons themselves.

Kakuzu kept his hand firmly on Domon's shoulder, preventing him from any brass movements that might provoke their unwelcomed guest. His only knowledge of the Mayfly was from the horror stories whispered during his years of imprisonment from excorticated veterans during the Second World War. He was unable to tell which had been fiction and those that had been truth, due to haven been incapable to witness it himself. He wasn't willing to take the risk in discovering the difference, however. One thing was for sure, this man was different from those he fought during the First World War, when those with the Mayfly had their sanity perfectly intact and did not sprout vegetation from their bodies or carve human flesh.

Unfortunately, that war had more than half a century ago and Kakuzu had only encountered a dozen of the Kusagakure shinobi before being reassigned so his knowledge on how to counter them was fuzzy. Avoid the ground, that was a positive, but that was all that rang. He blamed his memory partly on his older age. Something about…metal? Or was he confusing that with myth? Water perhaps?

"Captain Katsu!" Came a call from behind, breaking Kakuzu's concentration with a throaty growl. Domon followed the exclamation to discover the remaining members of the Explosive Corps, two male Chunin and a lone female Jonin, sprinting towards them. "Captain Katsu! Report!?"

It was then Domon realized Masato had yet to emerge from the tree line since his mine had been triggered and could no longer sense his chakra signature, confirming his suspicions the man had been indeed killed as a result. "Masato is dead."

"Dead!?" Kimiko, the female Jonin and Domon's second hand, gasped and the other two members exchanged startled gazes. "The explosion?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Him." Domon pointed at the Mayfly Man. The abomination snorted, his shit-eating grin vanishing, having apparently been offended from the innocent gesture.

"Who is…?" But the question could not be asked as 001 shrieked, a sound so shrill it would never be thought it could be produced by human lungs and those subject of the scream winced.

He dissolved into a blur of pale flesh and the glowing, red streaks of his eyes and within the next second, a recently graduated Chunin that had been standing mere steps away, was falling as slowly as the moment felt. Eyes bulged in their sockets and mouth agape, blood bubbling from his trembling lips. The metal bucket he had been grasping crashed to the ground, spilling its watery contents and washing away the blood that splashed the dirt. The boy struck the ground with a hollow thud and uttered a wet gurgle through the chasm which had been carved into his throat before breathing no farther. Above him, the Mayfly Man stood, arm outstretched with his hand flat, fingers compressed tightly together. The digits were covered in crimson.

"Haji-!" Domon gasped but before the name would escape his lips in its completion, 001 was moving again and another Chunin, who had been standing closely behind fell also. It was at the moment, any and every strategy Domon had conceived against this foe was whisked away in the wind. All his mind was emitting now was to run. To get away.

"Run!" The captain commanded, throwing his arm. "Position yourselves!"

Everyone obeyed as they fled, the air straining with the crashing of metal pots and buckets as they struck the ground. The choice of action was poor however, Domon soon learned, as similar to that of a predator, the Mayfly Man's eyes lit up like bonfires and with a thrilled howl he dove towards the ground, body paling into a white texture that phased though the dirt and disappeared from sight without even a chakra signature to trace.

"You fool!" Kakuzu barked, releasing the blonde as he skipped backwards, eyeing the ground for any evidence of lumps beneath the dirt pursuing him. "Get off the ground!"

People scrambled for the nearest structures for leverage while Domon hastily groped for another handful of clay while mimicking Kakuzu's actions. Unfortunately, those which straggled behind were picked off easily. A scream rang out and a Genin medic fell, yelling and clawing the dirt as his bottom half was swallowed up by the ground like quicksand. The two which had running ahead of him stopped and sped back for their teammate. Each clenched onto a flailing arm and struggled to pull the poor boy free from the devouring pit. Regardless of their intense hoisting, the younger man was steadily devoured into the floor until his upper body was swallowed whole and the two watched in horror as he vanished into the dirt, blood bubbling through to the surface.

Suddenly, a hand shot from the dirt and collided into one of the hovering men's faces, yanking the man head first towards the ground. The other shinobi shouted the man's name and caught his friend's arm, pulling it backwards to free his companion. There was a nasty cracking the man tumbled backwards with his friend falling atop him. He sighed but his relief quickly transformed terror when noticing the headless corpse now sprawled over him as the decapitated head was swallowed up by the ground also a few feet away. Seconds later, he met the same fate as his teammates are a pair of arms jutted from the floor and enveloped his torso, snatching him down also until the dirt muffled his screaming and pooled with blood.

Those went were fortunate enough to survive the first wave of attacks hunkered down in the classrooms of a nearby abandoned school building, weapons clenched at their vests as they peered out the empty window sockets for evidence of the enemy. Outside, Domon had mounted a grand, fabricated wyvern, hovering safely in the air with the remaining Explosive Corps clinging to its legs and elsewhere Kakuzu seated in the high branches of an ancient tree, both men eyeing the dirt and decayed grass below closely.

After several tense seconds, a creaking alerted the shinobi and they spun around to discover the splintered wooden floor was throbbing as an unknown white substance oozed through the broads. The tipped desks and chairs were pushed aside by the fluid as it spread out, shaping itself into a thin, star shape with a mouth-like extension in the middle. It slowly solidified, etching texture to the arms and the white colouring rusted, transforming into the Rafflesia the Mayfly Man bore on his back. Immediately, a putrid smell like that of a hill of rotting corpses assaulted the men and they wrenched and covered their noses from the offensive scent. The flower shuttered, the mouth audibly wheezing with a distinctively pink dust floating from its red lips.

Suddenly, it inhaled, petals swelling to twice their size and with a rattle the flower exhaled, a plume of the mist escaping its lips and infesting the air. Those unlucky enough to breath at the time were suffocated as the dust infiltrated their lungs, scorching them like fire and causing the tender flesh to melt away. The victims collapsed to the ground, gasping and choking as blood bubbled from their lips, eyes bulging and staining yellow as the vapor burned through their lungs and liquefied their internal organs in a matter of seconds. The rest of the shinobi shielded their noses and mouths with their headbands and dove from the broken windows to avoid the mist, only a dozen of them managing to escape. The airborne poison followed suit into the open air but evaporated into the wind and rain.

 _Don't breathe the mist._ Shirou's dying words echoed through his captain's mind as the pink vapour drifted from the windows of the decayed school. Domon grit his teeth. _'This is what Shirou was speaking of. The bastard can produce a poison.'_

Those which had survived the gassing fled to their leader's side. Domon analyzed them and swore beneath his breath. Within a matter of minutes, he had lost a member of his Explosive Corps and his manpower had been halved. The Mayfly Man has managed to do what an entire army took hours to do within a blink. He was beginning to understand better why those with the Mayfly had been perceived as such a massive threat by all nations during the war.

The atmosphere was tense as the survivors searched for the slightest hint of a chakra signature while additionally viewing the area around their feet for any signs of a shift beneath the ground. The blaze raging around them had seized the crumbled guard tower and ate away the stone structure. The crackling of the immense heat infected the air and made listening for movements impossible so no one heard the shifting of the ground as 001 emerged behind them. Kakuzu, still safely huddled in the branches above was the only witness of the attempted flank.

"Captain!" Kakuzu shouted. Domon spun around from the warning to see the experiment charge at his teammates which clung to the legs of his mount. Swiftly, he commanded the wyvern into the air and barely saved one of them from being snagged. The Mayfly Man snarled at the miss and quickly focused on the assortment of shinobi shattered around.

' _We have to attack while he's above ground and ensure he can't phase again.'_ Domon thought, glancing at the small sized fleet which remained, concluding the appropriate method to proceed with. "Commence Formation 8, Strategy 3!"

"Yes, sir!" The remaining shinobi chorused and took position, creating a diamond formation while the Explosive Corps leap behind the men, lining themselves up shoulder to shoulder.

The Mayfly Man observed the soldiers that stood ready, not seeing the threat but rather an easy killing ground as he purred and grinned at the generous gift. Without little thought, he charged towards, releasing a predatory howl and making a grab for the person at the tip of the arrangement. The Iwagakure shinobi's reaction was barely fast enough to dodge the grapple, skipping backward into the heart of the formation with the abomination hot on his heels who had yet had to realize the blatant trap. Once 001 stomped in the middle of the constant, the others tossed down weapons scrolls, summoning steel chains they withdrew and hurled at the experiment. The chains made contact, winding themselves tightly around the man's limbs and body, wounding his Rafflesia safely shut and successfully anchoring him in place. He roared and struggled against the binding with little triumph as the shinobi kept a solid grip on the chains to prevent any and all chance of escape while the Explosive Corps booby-trapped the man with explosive tags.

In the trees above, Kakuzu snorted. "Looks like the boy finally has his mind in this game." The older man remarked as he relaxed against the rough trunk of the tree, crossing his arms across his chest, deciding to remain on the outside and spectate the rest of the conflict. He was only here to confirm the existence the Mayfly, which thankfully had done itself, so now all was left to retrieve his paycheck and if the Mayfly Man was alive, whisk him away for extra profit.

"Hold him!" Domon shouted as his men struggled to restrain the howling monstrosity. His hands hastily chewed mouthfuls of clay and spat out earthy fleas that bounced to the ground, marching in unison towards the thrashing Mayfly Man. "Do not release until my say!"

The insects crawled onto the experiment, each latching onto their respective explosive tag. Once each bug was in place, Domon positioned his hand in the required hand sign to detonate them and end this once and for all. "On my call…n-" But before he could give the call and command everyone to release and back away from the impending eruption, the Mayfly Man screamed and suddenly, the chains bounding him shattered like glass, the crimson flower on his back flying open again, roaring also.

A few men fell to the ground from the abrupt backlash while those which kept their balance struggled to rebind the enemy with the remaining length of chains. The Mayfly Man sidestepped most the attempts and grasped onto two of the chains, yanking them and causing the handlers to fly forward with such strength their skulls collided with a sickening crack and collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from their mouths and noses. He grabbed a random chain, wrenching another victim towards him and as the man slid through the dirt, he stomped on his skull, crushing it like fruit.

Those who remained released the chains and Domon urged them away before igniting the tags. "Katsu!" Nothing followed. Not a pop, or a sizzle. Just silence.

The Mayfly Man snarled and faced the blonde, revealing to Domon's horror, the tentacles of the Rafflesia had plucked off the clay blood suckers within the matter of seconds and had "killed" them by shutting down their chakra emitters with its poison. The plant crushed them into undistinguishable mush and tossed them to the ground, 001 smashing them into the dirt as he stepped towards Domon, tearing off the useless explosive tags coating his pale flesh.

"Explosi-" Domon called when the Mayfly Man lunged into the air, grappling onto the head of the wyvern. The dragon wavered, dropping latitude from the additional weight but barely able to keep afloat. The experiment hooked his fingers in the soft foundation as he clawed his way towards Domon, drool cascading from his snarling jowls and hellborn eyes burning. Domon scrambled to the opposite side of the craft away from his pursuer, glancing between the Mayfly Man and the ground decently far below, weighing his limited options. The Mayfly Man screeched and seized the opposing man's ankle, using it to pull him forward and in a split second, Domon made his decision and pitched himself over the side of the wyvern to the ground below. Mid-freefall, he flashed a hand sign and the dragon instinctively plunged into the black sky above and into the dark clouding, 001 still clinging on.

"Katsu!" A rumbling originated in the clouds, resembling loud thunder and a second later, the sky lit up with a brilliant light and fire.

Domon quickly braced himself and struck the ground, gasping as the breath was thrusted from his lungs and back throbbed from the hard impact, enough to bruise but not break as squishy mud had absorbed the blunt of his fall. The members of the Explosive Corps were fast to his side as they assisted their stunned superior into a sitting position, wiping the wet dirt from his clothing and hair.

"Above!" Someone shouted and everyone gazed towards the sky, including Domon, to see the Mayfly Man falling back towards the earth, his flesh blistered and smoking and the tendrils of his Rafflesia curled like the legs of a dead spider.

'If that explosion didn't kill him, the fall surely will.' Domon thought with a relieved sigh and pushed his dusty googles onto his sweaty forehead, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes. 'It's over, finally over.'

Those who had survived the massacre erupted into applause and hooting and hollering with the victory. The celebration was short-lived, however, once the Mayfly Man struck the ground. There was no splash of mud or satisfying breaking of bones, instead his skin paled into a blank white shade while still feet in the air and his body transformed into a shapeless mound that melted through the earth once it made contact. The cheers died out and everyone stared in silent horror at the vanishing white liquid.

"He phased…" Domon whispered in disbelief, readjusting his googles over his bulging eyes. "He…survived?"

Before the captain and everyone could register the impossible that had just occurred, The Mayfly Man burst from the mud behind the troop, releasing a high-pitched scream that made a few of the soldiers shield their ears in response. The experiment lunged at a random shinobi and the man drew a kunai, slashing at his attacker while backpedaling only to trip over debris and tumble to the ground. Without hesitation, other shinobi jumped into the fray to save their comrade, swarming the Mayfly Man with knives and shuriken. The blades lodged themselves into flesh deep enough to create rivers of blood across the abomination's body but it did little to deter him as he resumed his relentless pursuit of the man who struggled to regain his footing. He snagged the man by his ankle and lashed him into the air by his leg, using his body as a mock mace to counter his assailants as they attempted a second attack.

He swung his living weapon and the helpless man's body struck one of his teammates, the impact vicious enough to break the ribs of both parties and knocking over the latter male. A medic ran to his aid to heal his shattered abdomen but could do nothing when the Mayfly Man slammed his fleshy flail down onto him, hard enough to kill the poor boy instantly where he crouched. Realizing the new offensive their enemy had taken, the few which remained backed out of the ambush but did not escape when the Mayfly Man hurled the now fresh corpse at them, bowling them over like pins. The duo which were grounded strained to remove the dead weight from atop them when the experiment surged at them, stomping down onto the carcass and using it to crush them as he repeatedly jumped on it until there was nothing left but bloody mush beneath his bare feet.

The lone soldier which avoided the attack flung himself at the Mayfly Man whilst he was distracted with his bouncing, kunai glistening in his hand and plunged the blade into one of the coiled leaves on his back. The knife sliced the fleshy petal, blood spurting free and the Mayfly Man screeched. In response, the monster delivered a foul punch to the man's face, killing him as his nose was plunged into his brain, before shrinking away, yelling incoherently as he groped for the punctured leaf that split crimson down his spine in a great quantity. Domon saw the Mayfly Man's thrashing and obvious discomfort and noted it. So that was the weak spot. The plant was merely an extension of himself, after all, an extra limb. Losing an arm or a leg tended to be deliberating.

"Aim for the flower on his back!" He instructed the Explosive Corps members, the soldiers nodding and the three of them separated to flank the abomination. The few Iwagakure shinobi which lived joined the offensive.

The mouths of Domon's hand finished their chewing and he activated a pack of dogs as a distraction as they rushed the Mayfly Man. The man averted his pain as he noticed the hounds and roared, swinging his fists at them which harmless bounced off the solid muddy material. The dogs danced around him, agitating him farther and he roared again, spitting and snarling. With the foe successful distracted, the Explosive Corps zeroed in, explosive tags in hand which they tossed at the man, the extra help pinning them to the surface of the flower with senbons that activated them also. The Rafflesia on his back convulsed, spewing a cloud of poison in response.

 _Don't breathe the mist…don't burn!_ Screamed the dead man's warning in Domon's subconscious again, the words making his heart clench."Wait!"

It was too late, the tags were triggered and exploded, igniting the lingering mist and doubling the size of the explosion into a massive detonation that engulfed the Explosive Corps members and troops. The clay hounds fled back to their creator, heat of the fireball hardening their sensitive flesh and they collapsed into apart into broken shards. The eruption dissolved into smoke and Domon held his breath, awaiting for the smoke to clear and disclosed the fate of his teammates and the Mayfly Man. Seconds later, the wind and rain banished the murky fog, revealing the abomination had survived, the flower behaving like a shield as it hugged him with its tendrils, protecting him from the blunt of the combustion. Scattered around him were the bodies of Domon's teammates and men, having been less fortunate as they lay slumped on the ground. His entire army, now laid dead. The captain choked though before tears could be shed, two of his teammates began to move as Kimiko and Nabuo scrambled to their hands and knees, coughing and singed but thankfully alive. Iwao was the last to move and released a blood-curdling howl.

"My arm!"

Nabuo and Kimiko looked over to the Chunin only to discover in their horror his right arm was missing, blown clean off, as he cradled the bleeding stump, withering and moaning on the ground.

"Iwao!" Nabuo gasped and crawled to the injured man, shedding his Iwagakure vest and pressed the jacket against the stump to absorb the bleeding though the tightly woven fabric did little to interrupt the steady flow. All their medics now lay dead and there was close to nothing else he could do to save his comrade. "Iwao, stay with me! Stay awake!" He scolded as Iwao visually began to fade in and out of consciousness from the shock.

The Mayfly Man growled, exhaling excess black smoke from his nostrils and corners of his mouth from the explosion and paced toward the two men. Kimiko struggled to her feet, wavering slightly before chasing after.

"Don't touch them!" She screamed and propelled herself on the man's back, clinging to the burnt Rafflesia flower for leverage. The Mayfly Man yelled and stumbled back, groping wildly for the woman on his back and thrashing to shake her off. Kimiko held on with all her strength and withdrew a kunai from the pouch strapped to her leg, plunging the blade into the stem of the vegetation that connected directly into the man's back causing 001 to screech. More pollen expelled from the plant as a defensive mechanism and Kimiko shielded her nose against her vest, holding her breath as she cleaved at the flower, blood spilling from the lacerations and pouring down the man's back. The abomination squealed and bucked like a wild hog but failed to free himself of the Jonin and after much sawing, the knife broke through and Kimiko tumbled to the ground along with the amputated Rafflesia.

The flower violently spasmed in the dirt, emitting high pitched whines as blood and pollen frothed from its petals and mouth until it stilled and wilted away seconds later. The Mayfly Man shrieked, his voice cracking from the intensity of the sound, and collapsed, panting and moaning as blood bubbled from the gaping hole now torn into his back. Kimiko scrambled to her feet to get away before the monster regained his composure but the 001 recovered from the mortal blow like it had been a painful paper cut. He screamed, trembling, bloodshot eyes bulging in their sockets and jaw nearly unhinging with the force of the yell. Domon and Kakuzu both simultaneously flinched at the raw amount of chakra that was radiated and gasped as the impact of it left them breathless. The masks on Kakuzu's back shuttered. Kimiko froze up, incapable to move from the pure shockwave of it.

The Mayfly Man lashed around and grasped the woman by her hair, wrenching her up by the black locks so she was leveled with his snarling maw. She yelped and thrashed, clawing at the hand. When that didn't work, she reached to her weapon holster, a movement her assailant caught. He snatched the offending hand and with a single, harsh squeeze shattered it, making the woman choke on a scream.

"B-Bastard…" Kimiko hissed through clenched teeth and spat in the Mayfly Man's gleaming, red eye, much to his displeasure. The man screamed and cocked his arm back, proceeding to slam the woman's face into the ground with disturbing strength that caused an audible cracking to emit from her skull.

"Kimiko!" Domon yelled in horror as his teammate was repeatedly smashed into the ground until she was nothing but a blur of flying red and black hair, the sound of her skull being reduced into pulp assaulting the ears of the rest of the Explosive Corps.

"Kimiko!" Nabuo echoed, leaving the unconscious Iwao as he charged the Mayfly Man. His attack was unsuccessful as 001 perceived the rush and chucked the limp body at him, knocking the man off his feet. Nabuo struggled to heave the weight of the dead woman off him but the attempt was feeble as the Mayfly Man was above within a second and delivered a powerful punch into his face, causing his nose to explode in a cascade of blood. He reared back for another hit and in a split-second decision, Nabuo cowered beneath Kimiko, allowing her corpse to absorb the blow.

"Nabuo!" Domon shouted and ran at the Mayfly Man, producing a handful of clay bees which he then chucked at the man. Seeing the white spots speed towards him, 001 deployed an earlier technique as he scooped up Kimiko's body and threw it towards the explosives, effectively knocking them harmlessly from the air and striking Domon who was unable to dodge in time. The blonde fell to the ground with his teammate pinning him to the ground and the Mayfly Man wasted no time to lunge at him.

"Katsu!"

The insects which lay in the dirt discharged, summersaulting the abomination in mid-air and causing him to crash on his wounded back, stunning him as for gasped for breath and withered. Nabuo seized the opportunity and assisted his captain in rolling their former teammate off him. Domon stood, wincing at the sight of the blood which stained his vest and the strains of black hair caught in the valcro but forced himself to ignore its existence.

"Thank you, Nab-"

"Watch out!" Nabuo gasped before Domon could finish and wrenched his superior out of the way just as an arm swung towards them. It missed Domon, barely, and instead punched through Nabuo's chest like it had been made of tissue paper. Domon gaped at the sight of the bloody fist protruding from the fellow man's torso before shifting his eyes upwards into the burning pits of the Mayfly Man that hovered above. Nabuo wheezed, it faintly sounding like an apology to his leader before going lax and the fist was yanked free of his chest, allowing his body to crumble at Domon's feet.

"Nab-" Again, before he could even breathe the man's name, the Mayfly Man surged at Domon, snarling and canines gnashing like a rabid dog.

"Katon: Intelligent Hard Work!"

A stream of fire shot from above from the darkness, colliding with the Mayfly Man's back. He screamed and stumbled backwards, thrashing and shrieking as the flames devoured his back. Landing behind him were Kakuzu, having finally decided to join the bout after supplying moral support the entire time, and a strange, bipedal, black creature with a white grinning face. The experiment screamed and swung at Kakuzu which he easily avoided and the creature beside him opened its clay mouth, releasing another jet of bright fire that engulfed the Mayfly Man. He fled from farther attack before jumping into a nearby puddle to exhaust the flames.

"Akatsuki! Finally decided to help, yes?" The captain questioned sarcastically, despite being unspeakably relieved for the assistance.

"Kakuzu." Kakuzu grunted, releasing his real name, as Domon stumbled beside him. "And yes, only because I need you alive for my paycheck."

Domon snorted at the other man's apathy. "Is money all you care about, yes?"

"What else is there to care about? Now put yourself together, captain. This is no time for you to crumble apart." Kakuzu scolded, noticing the blonde's obvious trembling and heavy breathing.

"I just witnessed my entire team and army be torn apart by a demon." Domon retorted, swallowing back saliva that tasted of iron and dirt. "And it's been awhile since I've had cigarette."

"At least you have your sense of humour."

"It's all I have left." Domon replied, removing the pack from his vest pocket and tapping a cigarette into his palm. He shook the box, listening to the near empty contents before replacing it in his pocket. "Have a light, yes? I lost my lighter in the fight."

There was a purr beside him and he looked over to see the grinning creature staring at him, mouth agape with a tiny flame dancing inside. Domon hesitantly accepted the kind gesture as he poked the cancer stick in the mouth, lighting it and quickly taking a puff to drown his emotions and insecurities in a smoky high.

"I suggest you finish that and prepare yourself because everything that just happened was only the beginning." Kakuzu stated as the Mayfly Man finally succeeded in extinguishing the blaze and regained his footing, clearly unpleased as his lips curled back past his yellowed canines. The fire had managed to cauterize the wound on his back, ceasing the fatal blood loss and he was rearing for a second round.

"Beautiful." Domon grumbled and with one last drag, releasing the plume of tar-tinted smoke from the collar of his headband before flicking the live cigarette to the ground, smothering it in the mud with his boot.

The fire which consumed the forest began to surround them as it swallowed up the corpses littering the battlefield and decayed buildings, creating a stadium of fire that was steadily closing in around the three men. Domon realized only one of them might escape this, perhaps two if they were fortunate. Which two, he prayed it would be himself and the Akatsuki, Kakuzu. If not then, Domon would make damn sure the Mayfly Man did not escape, even if it cost him his own life.


	8. Arc 1: Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu steps into the fray against the dubbed "Mayfly Man" and the conclusion of the fight.

**Wasteland:**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 7**

Domon hadn't been raised a religious man but he knew what demons were. Demons were abominations rejected by God and often described as beings with sharp teeth and red eyes reminisce of the flames of Hell which they expelled from their mouths. When shinobi were born, demons were renamed as the Uchiha. If Domon has been alive during the time, then he was positive they were referred to as the Mayfly during the Second World War. Perhaps, they were demons themselves having crawled from the depths of Hell. Only a demon could accomplish the atrocious things he had witnessed this morning. How was mankind capable of reviving such a thing?

His bewilderment was interrupted however, when the Mayfly Man screeched, a sound that paralleled a fearsome bird of prey and charged into a sprint toward them, briefly galloping on all fours to gather speed.

"Teo!" Kakuzu shouted at his fire element mask.

The hulking creature, nicknamed Teo, inhaled and rapidly exhaled a barrage of fireballs at the charging abomination. The Mayfly Man displayed an impressive dodging technique as he skipped and danced around the blazing bullets. In the midst of his prancing, Teo seized the opening and spewed a sizable fireball at him, striking dead on as it exploded against his chest. The experiment screamed and dropped to the ground, rolling in the surrounding puddles like one was taught in school to exhaust the flames. Kakuzu snorted. How easy this would be, he would only need one of two hearts for this.

Once the mud smothered the fire, the Mayfly Man sat up and snarled at the thread monster who growled back, parting its red lips with a tiny flame twirling between as a threat. Heeding the warning, the Mayfly Man did not attempt another attack, instead he lunged forward into the mud and both Domon and Kakuzu swore aloud.

"He's going to phase again!" Domon cried, quickly digging for his clay to halt the man before he could successfully escape them. If he phased, they were sitting ducks.

"Teo!" The fire behemoth's mouth went agape, a fire roaring within its porcelain skull and directed it towards the submerged man. Kakuzu was about to give the command when he noticed something peculiar after seconds passed and the Mayfly Man had not yet phased. Domon paused also.

' _He isn't phasing?'_ Kakuzu thought, observing the Mayfly Man as he attempted in vain to fuse with the ground to the point he was smearing his face in the mud. _'No, he can't phase. But why not? Too injuried? Did it have something to do with that vegetation?'_

After more failed attempts, the Mayfly Man gave up and resorted to rushing Kakuzu instead. The mask, Teo, swiftly reacted aggressively to this, exhaling a flamethrower that the experiment attempted to block with his arm. The flames swallowed the limb and the man skipped away from the surge, arm alit like a torch. Within a second, he had switched attention to Domon and charged the blonde next with a yell. Domon dodged past the Mayfly Man as he thrusted the burning fist towards him, the hungry flames singeing his blonde facial hair and deforming the rubber of his googles. The experiment delivered a few more punches without success before the downfall doused the flames scorching his skin. Domon's extra mouths finished their chewing and the captain tossed a handful of clay beetles at the Mayfly Man now that his weapon was extinguished.

The Mayfly Man glanced around for a protection from the explosives and hastily crouched, shoveling an armful of mud and flinging it at the projectiles. The wet dirt knocked them from their airbound course, plastering their tiny wings to their bodies as they spiraled to the ground, the mud swallowing them up.

"Shit, Katsu!" Domon activated the explosives, causing them to erupt into a fountain of mud that drenched the Mayfly Man, temporarily blinding him as it splashed into his face. The experiment roared, thrashing to rid the slop and Kakuzu seized his distraction as an opportunity.

"Katon: Intelligent Hard Work!" Teo breathed a stream of fire on the Mayfly Man, making him scream and stumble away from the inferno.

The Mayfly Man tripped over his own feet in his sightless flailing and fell to the ground, burrowing into the mud to shield himself from the flames licking his skin. Realizing the mud rendered his attack useless, the creature ceased his onslaught and the Mayfly Man stood up, wiping the mud from his eyes and running towards Kakuzu with his muscled arm cocked.

"Teo!" Kakuzu barked and the fire elemental mask intervened, breathing a stream of white hot fire again at the charging abomination.

The flames engulfed the Mayfly Man but unlike before, they did little to deter him as he carried forward through the blinding fire, fist extended. The blaze devoured his skin, leaving blistering muscle behind and polluting the air with the smell of burnt flesh. The offending fist was stripped of flesh down to its skeletal form before the entire hand was designated from the wrist and part of the interlocked arm bone.

' _Shit, it isn't stopping him this time!'_ Kakuzu thought and his back twitched as his leftover mask roused from its slumber to join the fray and protect its brethren.

Before then, Teo backpedaled, increasing the intensity of the tornado against the Mayfly Man, who persisted on and with a muffled scream, the experiment thrusted the protruding arm bone within the gaping mouth of the creature, impaling it into pumping heart within. The jet of fire ceased instantly and the creature twitched, gurgling as blood dribbled from the corners of its red lips. The Mayfly Man wrenched his arm back with the withering heart skewered at the end and clamped his yellowed jowls into the organ, devouring it off the bone similar to a shish kabob while uttering an audible purring until he swallowed down the last bloody chunk.

The black threaded creature released a keen squeal as it tittered backwards, its stringy body designating into dust and the leftover mask fell to the mud below, the wet dirt swallowing the porcelain mask until only a single black eye peered through. With the destruction of the heart, Kakuzu collapsed to his hands and knees, coughing up a mouthful of blood into the fabric of his bandanna and wheezing for the air that had been suddenly robbed from his lungs His two remaining hearts clenched painfully, struggling to support his older body with only them both. The Mayfly Man was swift to take notice to the elder's impaired condition and lunged with a screech, bone shiv aimed at the man's bowed back.

"Katsu!"

A clay beetle that had secretly latched itself to the Mayfly Man's pant leg exploded, sending the experiment reeling into the dirt. Kakuzu peered up to see Domon rushing toward him, clasping a handful of more squirming beetles. Experiment 001 recovered from the trip, glancing at his leg which now had a bloody chunk lacking in it between his knee and ankle from the small but lethal explosion. Domon chucked the beetles at the man while he remained downed and the abomination crawled away from the insects marching toward him, stumbling to his feet despite his mangled leg.

' _I've got him cornered.'_ Domon thought and erected his hand into the handsign to detonate him when the Mayfly Man did something that took his off guard. He rushed towards the incoming explosives and launched himself over them, landing hard his feet as the bone holding his injured leg together fractured but little to pause him as charged Domon, weaponized Ulna aimed to kill.

The blonde had only a split second as he withdrew a kunai and reflected the offensive bone when the Mayfly Man snatched his free hand, yellowed canines flashing as he crushed the bones in it like a tin can. Domon shouted in pain as blood and teeth sprayed from the mouth on his palm and before he could react, the experiment knocked the knife from his other hand and stabbed the bone through the gasping mouth, making the captain scream. The Mayfly Man grinned, uttering a low rumble in his throat that mimicked a chuckle and Domon snarled, cringing from the agonizing pain originating from his crippled hands. The cannibal opened his mouth wide, inhuman fangs thirsting for blood. Before he could devour the man's jugular, a disembodied hand shot out towards him, grasping the Mayfly Man's head. He was wretched backwards by his black locks, dropping Domon in process, and through the air, landing directly into Kakuzu's awaiting fist which slammed into his abdomen and knocked him into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater.

"I hope you enjoyed your snack." Kakuzu remarked lowly, downwards at the stunned experiment. "Because you owe me another heart to replace the one you ate." The Mayfly Man snarled and made a motion to sit up but Kakuzu easily prevented it as his threads ejected from his wrist, coiling themselves around the abomination's limbs and pinning him.

Domon sat up, cringing and gazing down at his bleeding hands, the mouths of them rendered useless as one was trampled, tongue wagging limply and missing a few teeth while the other had a clean hole punched through it and gurgled on blood. The blonde swore, realizing with his extra mouths disabled, he could not use his kekkei genkai to its complete potential or effectively wield a kunai, essentially removing him from the fight.

' _Bastard did it on purpose.'_ The blonde thought angrily as he painfully pushed himself to his feet, looking over to see the massive Akatsuki member hovering over the crumpled abomination before retreating to the back of the burning compound to care for his hands. _'Hopefully, this Kakuzu fella doesn't mind if I opt out for now.'_

Kakuzu reared back, delivering a powerful punch to the Mayfly Man's stomach, over and over, causing blood to splash from the man's gaping mouth and shoving him deeper into the earth. All prior plans to keep the man alive for profit had been thrown out the window once he destroyed one of his cherished hearts. Kakuzu had no patience for it. His disfigured corpse would have to suffice now.

Kakuzu paused in his onslaught, swallowing a breath and snorting as he stared at the gurgling man. "I will gladly take your heart to replace the one you destroyed." He remarked as he drew back his arm for the killer blow and thrusted his groping hand towards the other male's heart.

With a burst of conjured strength, the Mayfly Man managed to roll out of the way of the attack and Kakuzu's hand harmlessly smashed into the ground with a shower of mud. The miser grumbled and glanced up to see the monster struggling to his feet, huffing and snarling. Once standing, he spat a glob of thick blood into the dirt before ridding the rest that flowed from his nose with his tongue, purring at the taste of the coppery substance. Kakuzu snorted again, begrudgingly admiring the man's determination as after losing two limbs, which included his Rafflesia, and being partly crippled, he was still going considerably strong.

Before the experiment had a chance to fully recover, Kakuzu's hand launched from his wrist, barreling forward and the man barely managed to dodge it, tumbling to the ground in the process. Kakuzu retracted his hand, striking the Mayfly Man in the back of the head on the travel back and knocking him face first into the mud. The hand reattached to his wrist and he adjusted the fingerless glove while approaching the unmoving brute, brown bubbles surfacing within the puddle.

"Finally, he has reached his limit. His persistence was troublesome." Kakuzu remarked to himself as he lent down to retrieve the experiment, presuming he had drowned in the thick liquid as the bubbles ceased.

Just as he did, the Mayfly Man exploded from the puddle, shrieking and stabbing his broken arm at Kakuzu. Despite his age, Kakuzu's reactions remained sharper than any blade and he smashed his fist into the man's jaw, the crackling air echoing with the sound of breaking bone as his jaw was dislodged from his skull upon impact and sent reeling. However, he refused to remain down this time and scrabbled to his feet, jumping into the air towards Kakuzu, shrieking with his remaining arm cocked back and clashing fists with the other man. Immediately upon contact with the miser's stronger fist, the experiment's arm shattered, exploding into a mist of blood as the skin shredded with fragments of bone penetrating through. The impact sent the former summersaulting backwards and first face into the gathering mud, skidding a few feet before stilling. Kakuzu approached the thrashing abomination once more, rebelling against the dizziness that plagued his brain. The loss of his heart was beginning to take its toll. Two additional hearts were too little to support him physically. He would need more if such a situation arouse again.

The Mayfly Man struggled to lift himself with that which remained of his arms and gurgled threateningly through his dislocated jaw at the behemoth closing in on him when something, rather someone, caught his eye and the pupil lacking, crimson orbs flickered with renewed vigor. Kakuzu noticed the abomination's averted gaze and followed it to discover Domon who, yet having forfeited from the fray, lingered in the background as he tended his wounds. The raging forest fire had devoured the surrounding treeline, eliminating opportunity to flee to the nearby river for moderate safety and the crumbling ruins of Old Kusagakure had been ignited as well, leaving the blonde with nowhere to run or hide and praying the Mayfly Man didn't notice him as he stood helplessly in the middle of the soaked street to nurse his hands. Unfortunately for him, he had noticed him and Kakuzu realized this also when the Mayfly Man surged to his feet and barreled toward the captain, avoiding the black threads pursuing after him as he ran screaming towards the other man, butchered arms outstretched.

The Iwagakure shinobi dove to the ground, barely missing collision with the stampeding experiment and cringing as he landed atop his damaged hands, the thick layer of gaze had had wrapped them with staining with a well of crimson. Before he could stumble away, the Mayfly Man turned on a dime and screeched as he swung his makeshift arm-mace down onto Domon's back, the blonde's vest protecting him from the razor-like slivers of bone that penetrated through the arm. Another swing proved futile and 001 resorted to his other arm, stabbing his bone blade at the other man which Domon rolled away from and the arm sunk wet ground, the mud behaving like quicksand and ensnaring it.

The Mayfly Man squealed, flailing as he attempted to free his arm and Domon took advantage of the abomination's situation, fumbling out a kunai from his vest pocket and aiming it at the brunette's exposed throat. The cannibal caught the shine of the knife and swung his free arm at Domon, striking the blonde in the face, the broken bones impaling and shedding the flesh into ribbons. The man yelped and slashed the kunai blindly in return, hitting a bull's-eye, or human's eye as it sliced across the Mayfly Man's tattooed eyes. Experiment 001 teetered back, emitting an ear-splitting shriek as shook his head, droplets of blood spraying from his lacerated orbs and Domon stole the opportunity to crawl away. Suddenly, a horrid pain shot up his leg and glanced back to discover the Mayfly Man had stabbed his bone shiv through his calf. The abomination growled lowly in his throat, blood rivering from beneath his circled, closed eyelids.

"Shit." Domon swore and jerked his leg away, evicting the forging bone and scrambled to his feet. Apparently, being blinded did little to nothing to hinder the Mayfly Man as he swung his club-like arm, hitting Domon in the side and toppling him over with the force. He withdrew his arm, directing toward the sound of the man's body hitting the ground and swung the spiky limb down, only to be interrupted by a large fist colliding with his head and sending him skidding through the mud. Domon looked up to see Kakuzu hovering above, shaking out his fist from the punch against the other man's thick skull.

"Bastard never stops." Kakuzu sneered, coughing for a few seconds before shifting his attention to Domon. "And the fuck are you still around for? If you can't hold your own then leave. The path back to Kusagakure hasn't been overtaken by the fire yet and I need you breathing for my paycheck." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder down the dirt road which was remained untouched from the forest fire, granting an escape back to the village for a short period of time.

Domon spat a mouthful of blood from his shredded cheek. "Is money all you care about, yes?" He muttered under his breath, earning a heated glare from a sharp-eared Kakuzu before quickly adding. "And what if he follows, yes? The entire village will be in danger."

"I'll take care of it."

"By yourself, yes?"

"What do you care?" Kakuzu retorted, taking the question as a personal jab.

"Point taken." Domon hustled to his feet, without the helpful aid of Kakuzu, and shifted his weight from his impaled leg, eyeing the open road to Kusagakure. How tempting it was, but a million thoughts prevented him from pursuing it.

For one, there was the possibly of the Mayfly Man stalking him to the village and placing countless lives at risk with his presence. The possibly was very real if the Akatsuki failed to subdue the experiment or died even. Second, was the thirst for revenge. This abomination against nature had slaughtered his entire troop, including his teammates he had been together with since the academy. Limping away with his tail between his legs was not an option nor the shinobi way. He desired his pound of flesh.

The Mayfly Man recovered once more, shaking his head to rid the sweat and dirt coating his face and Kakuzu detected the sluggishness of the man's movements, concluding his steam was finally running thin. It wouldn't be too much longer until he either collapsed from exhaustion or blood loss and being incapable to use his Mayfly, he could not escape suddenly. Kakuzu would buy himself a nice bottle of expensive booze with the bonus check he got from selling the abomination's corpse.

"Let's finish this, I am growing bored of this back and forth." Kakuzu commented, hiking up the sleeves of his black coat and securing the matching leather gloves on his hands.

"If you provide a distraction then I can deliver the finishing blow." Domon offered, checking his remaining clay stash. Kakuzu stared at him flatly, irritated with the blonde's persistence.

"I thought you were incapable of fighting."

"I still have one mouth left." The captain said, gifting the Akatsuki a full-toothed smile and the older man sighed, already too tired with the conversation to argue with the stubborn younger man any longer. The ravenous fire that was currently devastating the ancient forest around them was closing in inch by inch and within a matter of minutes it would swallow the very path they stood on so it was now or never.

The Mayfly Man gurgled, pinpointing the two men by their voices and charged toward the source, cocking his arms back. Domon sprinting from the assault while Kakuzu dealt with it head on, sidestepping the charge and stretching out his arm to clothesline the cannibal. Experiment 001 felt the gust of air the miser's arm vented when he positioned it and dodged beneath it, spinning around and slashing his arm which Kakuzu reflected with his own before swiveling on his foot and punching at the other man. The two exchanges swings, bobbing and weaving from each other and Kakuzu realized that despite the experiment's blindness, he was using his other senses to fluidly evade him, listening to the mud splashing beneath his boots and the dragging of air by his heavy clothing.

Meanwhile, Domon chomped on the wad of clay he had withdrawn from his satchel, hastily chewing the earthy material into a liquid. Once it was thoroughly dissolved, he induced his gag reflex with his tongue and vomited the white fluid onto the ground, creating a gross puddle. He forced his hand into a painful hand sign and the pool exploded into a smoke cloud, clearing after a few seconds to reveal a perfect clone of Domon.

Hearing the ruckus, the Mayfly Man paused in his fisticuffs with Kakuzu and turned his head in the direction of the noise, eyebrows knotting and nose crinkling. Kakuzu took the man's distraction as an opening and threw a punch at his face, the other averting it before speeding off towards Domon with a shriek. Kakuzu ran after only to pause after a few feet to catch his breath, slamming his into his knee in frustration. He had never endured the loss of a heart to perceive the side effects but now he realized how desperately his dying body depended on them. He would need at least five hearts to support himself so he wouldn't be so crippled with one or two being taken out.

Meanwhile, Domon took safety while the clone took offensive, arming itself with a kunai and rushing the monstrosity. Experiment 001 heard the keen cutting of the blade through the air and narrowly avoided it as the clone slashed it at his face, dodging underneath the out sketched arm and resuming his pursuit towards Domon, the real one. Domon glanced up from his process of creating a second clone and nearly choked on the clay when seeing the Mayfly Man running towards him, broken arm pointed straight at him. The blonde stumbled out of the way, his wounded leg giving out and causing him to land on his backside. The clone rushed to its creator's aid and Domon scrambled away, hoping the experiment would confuse the footsteps of them both and mistake the clone for him. Unfortunately, he didn't and dodged the clone again as he continued his chase after Domon who limped away as quickly as he could manage while still chewing the mouthful of clay.

' _Why isn't he attacking the clone!?'_ He thought frantically, dodging as the Mayfly Man swung his club-like arm at him. Kakuzu who had been perceiving the whole thing while he recovered understood why.

' _The Mayfly grants him a sixth sense for chakra so he isn't tracking him with sound, but by his chakra signature. That is why the clone hasn't fouled him.'_ The elder realized, scowling as he straightened stiffly. _'That brat keeps getting himself into situations.'_

A tremendous cracking from overhead caught Domon's attention and he gazed up just as a grand tree, bisected by the flames, fell towards him. He dove away from the path of the tittering trunk's path, rolling to safety and the tree struck the ground hard enough to make it briefly quake. The blonde pushed himself on his padded elbows and looked over to discover the Mayfly Man had managed to avoid the collapsed tree as well having heard it tumble. Domon's clone was not as fortune however as the tree had torn off one its arms and the intense heat of the fire eating the trunk only inches away caused the clay material of its body to rapidly harden until it solidified within seconds. The Mayfly Man thrusted his arm at the crackling clone and the contact caused it to shatter into several pieces like glass, broken face falling to the ground and staring blankly upward at the abomination.

With the clone decommissioned, the Mayfly Man focused on the sloshing on mud as Domon stood and charged the man, aiming his shiv at the man's turned back. The blonde avoided having his spine severed from the protruding bone but as he spun around, the experiment stabbed it through his hip instead, making the captain's steel grey orbs widen from behind his googles and cringe. The Mayfly Man's lips curled at the expelling of hot blood onto his bare chest as he retracted the makeshift shank and Domon stumbled backwards, cradling the spilling wound.

' _Damn it…did he hit something vital?'_ He thought but before he could answer his own question, the Mayfly Man was attacking him once more.

The man backpedaled, wincing at the pain that pledged his side and leg and as he fled the length of the downed tree, he realized his cheeks were still stuffed with liquidized clay and a lightbulb flashed in his brain. The monstrosity swung his clubbed arm at Domon and as he did, the blonde quickly retched the clay. The Mayfly Man squealed, withdrawing as the foreign substance drenched his face and upper body, shaking to rid it but the gooey fluid clung like syrup. As he reeled about, the heat of the burning tree licked the clay and it proceeded to concrete it at an alarming rate, encasing the Mayfly Man in a white shell and transforming him into statue, his arms being rendered immobile and face freezing into a screaming mask. With his legs free, the living sculpture floundered backwards, tripping over his own feet and crashing against the kindling trunk, the earthy cocoon weighing him down and rendering him unable to stand again as he struggled and screeched behind the mask glued to his face as he baked alive. After a minute, the thrashing stopped and the abomination went silent.

Domon stared, searching for any signs of life but saw none, the Mayfly Man had even ceased to breathe. He assumed it was due to the clay obscuring his nose and mouth or the sheer heat. When another minute passed with no movement, the blonde finally allowed himself to breathe and plop to the ground.

"Finally…" He wheezed, wiping the sweat from his brow and double checking the wound to discover it had clipped through his hip bone and though very bloody, had not hit anything critical. Kakuzu slowly approached, eyeing the experiment figurine that laid on the ground.

"Congratulations, captain." He deadpanned, leaning down and knocking on the sheet of clay that covered the Mayfly Man like a chocolate coating. "You successfully killed the one thing that slaughtered your entire army."

Domon snorted, hearing the sarcasm accompanying the personal jab but he couldn't bring himself to take offense to the remark. He had killed the Mayfly Man, and also had proof that the Mayfly existed. Now was just the matter of discovering who was behind it but he was positive that would be left to the Akatsuki. Right now, he just wanted to go home, kiss his wife and mourn the lives of all the men he was lost this day.

"I am to be paid still, correct?" Kakuzu asked suddenly. "I was hired to prove the existence of the Mayfly and secure it, and that just so happened."

Domon sighed, unsurprised that the conversation that steered but to the subject of money. The mindset of a mercenary he reckoned. "Yes, but not now. The guard tower I kept the rest of the payment has been burned down along with everything inside." He explained, gesturing towards the guard tower to the northeast of the forest cul-de-sac that was currently engulfed in flames, fire spewing from the broken windows. For extra salt in the wound, a nearby tree submitted to the fire and toppled onto the stone structure, collapsing in its roof. Kakuzu winced, the thought of burning money made the remainder of his hearts ache. "But if you are willing to join me back to Iwagakure then I'm positive the Tsuchikage will pay you handsomely."

Kakuzu snorted. "That is not ideal." He remarked, not bothering to explain how it would not be a wise idea to scroll into a Hidden Village with the label of S-Ranked regardless if they had personally employed him. And old man's paranoia perhaps. "Instead, you return to Iwagakure to retrieve payment and I shall babysit our friend until you get the money to me," He patted the fossilized Mayfly Man's head. "Otherwise, no payment, no Mayfly."

Domon scowled. He should have known better than to trust a member hailing from an organization of criminals. What was the old man thinking employing the likes of them? Unfortunately, he had no choice. Now that the existence of the Mayfly had been uncovered, he needed the Mayfly Man as proof so they could proceed with building evidence against Kusagakure and whoever was paying them to charge them with crimes against humanity. There was no choice as there was obviously no arguing with this man and he certainly couldn't wrestle the body away.

"Very well. Where shall we rendezvous, yes?"

"The border of Amegakure and Kusagakure. Three days. That should be manageable, correct?"

No, it wasn't. Domon had been hoping to at least have a day to rest, heal his wounds and mental scarring but again, there was little choice. "Fine. Three days. I shall retrieve the payment from the Tsuchikage and meet you again on the border with the Mayfly."

"It is a deal, captain." Kakuzu extended his hand to shake on it and Domon gingerly clasped his hand, shaking it slightly before jerking away and cradling the bandaged limb. "Until then, I shall keep care of our friend."

Kakuzu hunched over to scoop up the human mannequin when a cracking of the clay shell caused his hand to retract. The brunette narrowed his eyes, analyzing the giant crack that spanned abruptly across the Mayfly Man's chest when another shot across his face, then another at the shoulder, then, the encasing exploded. Kakuzu reared back and heard a scream, peering up just in time to see the Mayfly Man lunge towards him, broken jaw shifting back and forth with his shrieking. The man cocked his arm back to punch the abomination when the experiment straighten his legs mid-flight and delivered a forceful kick in his chest, sending Kakuzu skidding several yards.

' _He played dead!?'_ Domon thought, scrambling away from the Mayfly Man who took a moment to shrug the rest of the hard clay from his blistering, pink skin. _'No,'_ He glanced at the nearby trunk that had been smothered by the rain and expelled black smoke. _'He purposely fell against the fire so the clay was heated to the point of breaking and waited. Why is he so smart!?'_

Once having shed the clay, the Mayfly Man noticed Domon behind him and gurgled in his throat and he turned towards the blonde. Domon forced himself to his feet, reversing farther into the burning cul-de-sac as the other man approached slowly like a cat teasing a trapped mouse. The captain glanced down at his half-empty satchel, checking that which remained of his clay. There was barely enough for _it_ and had a heavy weight in his stomach saying that he might need _it_ too.

Kakuzu recovered from the harsh strike and ran forward towards Domon and the Mayfly Man when a sizable tree which had been chewed away by the flames collapsed onto the path, creating flaming barrier between he and Domon that spanned the width of the encampment. Kakuzu lep back from the blazing trunk, swearing. There was no avoiding any longer, he would have to risk his second heart.

"Doara." He breathed the single word and the following moment, the back of his trench coat shifted and throbbed as from beneath his upturned collar, slithered his wind-element mask, Doara.

The bird-like creature crawled over his master's shoulder and landed to the ground on all fours, shaking itself similar to a dog while flexing its stubby wings and emitting a metallic cawing.

"Futon: Pressure Damage!" Kakuzu directed the creature towards the smouldering trunk.

The foul obeyed, inhaling deeply, the threads composing its chest expanding before exhaling a mighty gust of wind at the hindering flames, causing them to waver and shrink and the trunk to splinter as it was swept into the funnel of a building tornado. Suddenly, a smothering wave of chakra assaulted Kakuzu and Doara, the demented creature ceasing the exhale of air and chirping frantically. Instantly, the older man realized what had caused such a skin-crawling emission of power.

"God damnit! I told that brat not to blow himself up!" Without a second of hesitation, he sprinted down the heated road back towards Kusagakure to escape the potential blast radius, Doara fluttering behind with fearful cawing as it attempted to refuse with its host.

…

With the forest crashing down around him and the flames licking his back, Domon knew this was the end. Trapped between the circling forest fire and rabid Mayfly Man, separated from the Akatsuki, his entire team dead, incapable of using his kekkei genkai and bleeding. It was the end, and there was no fighting it. All he could do at this point, was to ensure if he died, he was making damned sure he was bring this abomination of humanity with him.

The Mayfly Man snarled, blood and saliva rivering from the corners of his mouth, the silence irking him as Domon groped painfully into the pack strapped to his hip, withdrawing a sizable ball of clay. The blonde tilted his head backwards as he loosened the head protector around his neck, the bandanna falling away to reveal a series of ugly, black stitching holding the man's throat together. The broken mouth on his free hand weakly chewing at the thread, eventually breaking through and clamping into the edge of the string as the man yanked back his hand, unraveling the stitching. Once freed, the grotesque scar circling his throat twitched and the separate rolls of flesh curled back over rows of crooked canines, exposing it to be another mouth.

The mouth yawned, causing Domon's entire head to tilt back and exposing the various tendrils and inner muscles composing the blonde's neck. Domon lifted the mass of clay to the mouth and it gladly accepted it, hungrily chowing down into the earthy material and chewing it like a wad of bubble gum. As it chewed, the veins coursing through his throat darkened as the blood rotted with excess chakra. Suddenly, an influx of chakra assaulted the Mayfly Man's senses and he shrieked, provoked from the discharge.

Despite this, Domon, ever so calmly, reached into his vest pocket and withdrew his cigarette pack. He tapped the package on his bloodied palm until the last of the death sticks slithered out. He dumped the empty box into the dirt and lit the cigarette on his skin that sizzled as the skin burned from within, propping it between his discoloured lips and inhaling deeply, the warm smoke scorching his raw lungs and leaking from the corners of the mouth on his neck.

The lingering rain briefly increased in its downpour and a weird sense of peace blanketed him. He had always adored the rain. Unlike most people, example being his wife, it perked his mood and opposed to those people would hide from it, he embraced it. If today's events hadn't unfolded, then he would be walking the complex right now, and relishing the cold chill it left on his skin. The rain softened the realization of his impending death. It was such a beautiful day to die.

"I'm sorry, Kira," Domon apologized, exhaling the smoke with a droplet of blood crawling from the corner of his mouth which mixed with the single tear that escaped from the canvass of his googles. "Looks like I won't be coming home this time."

The Mayfly Man screamed and rushed Domon, amputated arm cocked back with the jutting bone aimed at the man's grinning throat. Domon lifted his hand, the skin having gone completely black and steaming, forming a single hand sign and uttering one last word.

"Katsu."

…

In the early morning hours, a sleepy Kusagakure was rocked by a massive explosion that engulfed the ruins of Old Kusagakure. Buildings swayed precariously on their neglected foundations and the windows shuttered and crack. The inhabitants flee into the streets, yelling fearfully to one another and casting their gaze to the darkened sky above that is now illuminated with a grand pillar of light and fire. The eruption swelled into the likeness of a bird with its wings extended, caressing the heavens above as their tears were halted and radiating a light bright enough to be seen from every corner of the world and blinded those who viewed it directly. The silhouette lingered for only a second before the bird withered, folding in its wings and shrinking away into nothingness from which it came, leaving behind a mushroom cloud of ash and smoke in its wake. The blackness of the storm returned and the downpour resumed, washing away the ashened air. Those which had witnessed the eruption turned to their neighbor to discuss the sudden events.

"What was that?" Was gasped by a few.

"Did that come from the Iwagakure camp?" Murmured others.

From the shadows, Kakuzu observed the fading mushroom cloud and sighed with a shake of his head. His paycheck had just gone up into smoke. He had lost a heart and a payday for nothing. He had half a mind to leave now, but he had never been one to accept failure. The deal with Iwagakure had been terminated but there were plenty of other villages which would pay an arm and leg for the Mayfly. A live specimen was unlikely now but a few documents or samples were worth just as much.

He dug in the breast pocket of his coat and retrieved a pair of sunglasses, pushing them onto his nose to conceal his mismatched eyes before departing into the depths of Kusagakure. But for now, he would have to regroup and organize a plan as to how he would obtain the Mayfly.

…

Days later, news reached Iwagakure about the misfortune regarding Captain Katsu and his squadrons, the Explosive Corps and Fourth Iwagakure division. Ironically, it had been a rainy day and a sense of gloom smothered the village. Ōnoki paused in his tedious paperwork to close his drapes and shut out the sad weather. _'Nothing good ever comes on days such as these.'_ He concluded, heaving himself back into his chair and returning to his labour. Minutes later, there was a knock on the door of his office.

"Enter." The old man grunted. The door opened and his assistant, Jirou, entered the claustrophobic office and bowed politely, adjusting his thick rim glasses on his nose as they slipped from the action.

"Tsuchikage-sama. Captain Sho's ninken, Aogiri, has arrvied." He said, stepping aside a large wolf depicted with a tiger-patterned pelt lumbered in and the assistant stepped out behind, shutting the door to grant both parties privacy.

Ōnoki's eyebrows lifted to his wrinkled forehead at the animal's unexpected appearance. Sho was stationed on Kannabi Bridge in Kusagakure, the ninken had traveled quite the distance across war-torn countries to be in the Tsuchikage's presence. A war hawk would have been remarkably safer, but to each their own. "Aogiri, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"Not a pleasure, sir." The wolf rumbled, sitting at the foot of the man's desk. "I come to report unfortunate news regarding the Fourth Iwagakure Division and the Explosive Corps and their captain, Katsu Domon."

Immediately, Ōnoki's stomach pummeled to his toes with the use of his disfavoured son-in-law's name and the word 'unfortunate' in the same sentence. He wasn't fond of the boy, but that did not mean he wished any ill on him and his old heart proceeded thump hard in his ears with anxiety. "What unfortunate news did you bring regarding Katsu Domon?"

"Three days ago, Kusagakure was rocked by a massive explosion originating from Old Kusagakure where Captain Katsu and his troops were stationed. Captain Sho, along with a small squadron, set out to investigate the source of the explosion and what they discovered was…distressing." The canine paused, clearing his throat which felt strangely stripped, obviously from the misfortune of informing the Tsuchikage about the death of one of his own. "The entire encampment had been wiped out for a mile radius from the explosion. No survivors nor bodies were uncovered. They are all assumed deceased."

The quill in Ōnoki's hand cracked between his compressed knuckles, echoing loudly through the deadly silent room. The thumping stopped, a cold sweat broke out and he questioned if he was having a heart attack by the foul pain that sickened his heart. Deceased…dead. Domon…was dead? Killed himself and his entire troop? Impossible. It was impossible! He might not be fond of the boy but he knew he would not be responsible for such a thing. He wasn't that dull!

"What happened!?"

Aogiri flinched from the sharpness of his superior's tone and shuffled on the carpet, coiling his maned tail around his paws. "Sho contacted Captain Simon of Tenchi Bridge after the discovery but he reported observing no movements from the Konohagakure encampment across the river nor did Konoha attempt to cross the Tenchi Bridge or the Kannabi Bridge before or the day of the incident. We hypnotized that Konohagakure ambushed Old Kusagakure during the night and slaughtered the troop and Captain Katsu sacrificed himself to eliminate them. This is only a theory, however, as we were unable to recover any evidence to support or reject this. All we know from interviewing locals of Kusagakure was the fighting began early in the morning as they reported explosions and screams from Old Kusagakure during that time. Shortly after was the explosion that destroyed Old Kusagakure." The ninken concluded his lengthy report and dropped his sight to his feet, eyeing his overgrown nails and making a mental note to have Sho trim them.

Ōnoki slumped in his office chair, unable to even comprehend the news which had been given to him as his mind cluttered with a million thoughts. With the thoughts came emotions such as bewilderment. He wanted to know what had caused such an incident. What or who had achieved in the slaughter of an entire troop of highly trained Iwagakure within a night? Next, he was overwhelmed with anger towards Domon. What in that boy's head had convinced him that sacrificing himself with his kekkei genkai was a good idea? There was no evidence he had killed any of the enemy as well so his death might have been in vein. And what if a few of his troops has been alive still and he inadvertently killed them also? Finally, came sorrow when his daughter, Kira, entered his mind. He had promised her that by two week's end she would be reunited with her husband and instead, he now had to inform her of his untimely death. The most, he pitied his unborn grandchild that would now have to grow without a father.

The elder Tsuchikage straightened in his seat, folding his hands on his desk top and sighing softly with his eyes closed. "Thank you, Aogiri. You are dismissed." He whispered.

The dog nodded, standing and bowing. "I apologize for your loss, Tsuchikage-sama." He said, straightening before quietly leaving the office, bumping into Ōnoki's female assistant on the way out who squeaked an apology for colliding with the huge mutt.

"Rika." Ōnoki addressed the blonde woman quietly. "Would you please retrieve my daughter Kira? She should be with Hotaru. Urgently."

The young woman hesitated, noticing the somber look on her employer's face and debated about asking him what could be wrong but decided against inferring with the old man's affairs as she nodded instead. "Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."

Meanwhile, on the other side of Iwagakure, Katsu Kira released a sigh and slumped in her seat, dropping her arms onto her swollen belly and staring blankly at her untouched bowl of hot ramen.

"What's up, Kira?" Her younger sister, Hotaru, questioned, pausing the noisy slurping of her noodles to stare at her somber sister.

"Rainy days bum me." The woman remarked, gazing out of the window of the ramen shop they were currently having lunch in, tucking her black fringe behind her ear as she watched people hurry by to escape the rain. "But it feels like more today. I can't place my finger on it."

"The baby?"

"No, the baby is fine. Usually I can feel him gumming on my organs or kicking me in the kidneys but today he has been oddly quiet. Perhaps the rain calms him like it does for Domon." Kira said, smirking slightly at the memory of her husband and his queer love of the rain to the point he would take walks in it without an umbrella and shirtless. He would love today, just the right amount of downpour and chill in the air to make him sick for days. Those were his favourite.

Suddenly, her casual viewing of the few people walking the streets was interrupted when she saw their father assistant, Riku, scurry by and she quirked an eyebrow as she observed the blonde's almost frantic glancing around as she searched for someone or something. Eventually, the girl's eyes settled on Kira's that gazed at her through the window of the shop and she hurried for the door, yanking it open and stumbling in towards their table.

"Kira-chan!" The girl squeaked, hunching over as she caught her breath from her jog across the village. "Your father has summoned you!"

"Papa?" Kira asked, glancing at her sister who shrugged, swallowing the mouthful of ramen stuffing her cheeks. "What for?"

"I don't know, madam, but it is urgent."

Kira blinked at the girl, pondering what her father could possibly want so desperately he would send an assist to retrieve her and tell her it was urgent. Had Domon returned early? The thought perked her downed mood as an excitement pooled in her stomach. The baby kicked, displeased with her zeal bothering his nap.

Kira awkwardly stood from her seat while Hotaru swallowed down the last of her ramen, and part of Kira's, before following after Riku who led them back to their father's tower. As they navigated the streets there, the positive anticipation in Kira began to sour and the funk returned, growing more and more intense as they neared their destination. When they arrived at the Tsuchikage's tower and slowly ascended the stairs to their father's office, the feeling was so overbearing that Kira stopped and had to gasp for breath.

"Kira, are you alright?" Hotaru asked, worry evident in her voice as she placed her hand on her older sister's slumped shoulder.

"Yes, just…the baby." Kira replied, wincing. It wasn't a lie. The baby had suddenly decided to throw a cow, and the entire farm with it, inside of her stomach as he thrashed and kicked, obviously disturbed by his mother's drowning anxiety.

After regaining her breath, she carried on and Riku opened the door to the office, quickly stepping out of the way of the two women as they entered. Immediately, Kira's unspeakable dread struck her when Domon was not there, ready to scoop her into his arms and smother her with sloppy kisses. Instead, her father was seated behind his desk, head bowed with his forehead resting against his knotted knuckles, eyes closed. His silence did not ease her tension. Riku hustled out of the office and closed the door behind, making Kira flinch as the sound shattered the unnerving muteness.

"Papa…" Kira whispered after several seconds when Ōnoki said nothing. Hotaru shuffled nervously behind her. "Is something wrong?"

"Kira…" Ōnoki finally sighed but could not bring himself to face her as he spoke. "I am so sorry…" That was all it took, just those few words, and Kira's entire universe came crashing down around her as her worse fears were realized.

Kira collapsed to her hands and knees and released a keen wail. Hotaru rushed to her sister's side and cradled her as she trembled, fat tears and globs of snot dripping from the elder's dark eyes and nose and onto the carpet. Kira screamed again, punching her fist repeatedly onto the floor until the threading rubbed away the skin on her hand and it bled. "No! No! No! That bastard! He promised me! He promised me he would come back! No!" She hiccupped. "H-He promised to be here for our baby!" She lifted her red face towards her father, skin wet with cascading tears from her bloodshot eyes. "How!? How Papa!? How!?"

Ōnoki did not answer, instead he averted his sight and pressed his fingers against his eyes, casting away the tears welling them in them from his daughter's meltdown. What was he to say to her? He wasn't sure himself what had occurred except the glaring fact Domon had killed himself. Suicide was such a dishonourable way for a shinobi to embrace death. He would have rather the boy die with his troop then taking his own life and possibly the lives of the men he had been appointed to protect. He could not bring himself to tell Kira that.

"Hotaru…" Ōnoki quietly addressed his youngest, unable to witnesses anymore of his dearest daughter's misery. "Please remove your sister…take her home."

Hotaru nodded curtly and nudged her heartbroken sister. "Come on Kira…" She whispered, sniffling softly herself. "Let's go home…" After several seconds, she managed to heave her sobbing sister to her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her as she led the hysterical woman to the door. Riku politely opened the door for two woman from the other side and seeing the weeping Kira, quietly gave her condolences despite not being aware of what had occurred and winced when Kira's loud crying could still be heard even as they disappeared down the stairwell.

"Riku." The blonde quickly directed her attention to her superior who was hunched over in his chair, fishing out something from one of the drawers of his desk. "I have a letter I need you to copy and deliver." He said, producing a folded paper that he pushed across his desk towards her.

Riku retrieved the paper, not reading its contents. "Very well, Tsuchikage-sama. Who is the letter being address to and how many copies should I make?"

"It will be addressed to every Iwagakure shinobi that is currently or not currently involved in the war so at least one thousand copies?"

"O-One thousand copies!?" The woman shuttered, the letter slipping from her hands and onto the floor. "That will take days to produce and distribute, sir!"

"I need this letter out as soon as possible, Riku." Ōnoki replied, swiveling in his chair to face the massive window overseeing the village, standing up to push away the drapes to discover the rain had thinned into a sprinkle. He stared hard at his own reflection. "I am bringing this war against Konohagakure to an end, now."

…

An investigation into the Old Kusagakure Massacre, as it was labeled, was launched. However, after only a few weeks, it was abruptly shelved when the Iwagakure forces stationed were ordered to march to Konohagakure in one final surge, abandoning Kusagakure as a stronghold in the progress. No evidence was ever recovered explaining the events of that day and several rumours circulated around Iwagakure, one that told that Captain Katsu had killed himself and troop on purpose while another spoke of a superweapon that Konohagakure had conceived that wiped the army out. The event eventually became a ghost story and for years people hypnotized what had truly taken place on that day. Only one item had ever been recovered from the explosion but it had been deemed unimportant to the investigation and scrapped.

A burnt Rafflesia flower.


	9. Arc 1: Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the Mayfly Man's fight with Iwa.

**Wasteland:**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 8**

"There we go." Ayana whispered to herself as she tucked K-MF-084 back into her hospital bed after her daily session of Mayfly-suppression chemo. The girl was pale and trembling, having endured a severe spell of vomiting and Ayana withdrew a tissue from her pocket, using it to dab away the beads of sweat on Experiment 084's forehead and the clear fluid crusted on the corners of her mouth. The girl hugged her tattered teddy bear, emitting a low whine and Ayana sighed, heart aching at the sight of the suffering girl. _'At least there was no testing scheduled this week.'_ She thought as she stroked the girl's sunken cheek.

"Go to sleep, you have nothing else today." Ayana told the girl gently and 084's eyes began to droop with the welcomed clearance. Suddenly, just as soon as they closed, her large, honeycomb eyes reopened and widened, her lips stretching into a sharp-toothed grin. Ayana blinked at the girl's abrupt perkiness and followed her sight over her shoulder, gasping at the surprising sight.

"Kiyoshi-kun?" She remarked, standing to her feet as the blonde doctor approached her. "You're not due back until tomorrow!"

"I came back early, I was too worried." Kiyoshi explained to his friend, gently nudging past her to crouch at 084's bedside, cradling the girl's smiling face. "How are you, Zetsu?" He whispered, keeping his voice low so one of the other nurses currently tending the children in the infirmary ward did not overhear. Referring to an experiment by their name was strictly frowned upon.

"She had a vomiting spell this morning," Ayana answered honestly despite the girl's optimistic nodding to please her favourite person. "But, there was no testing this week."

Kiyoshi nodded. "Good." He petted the teenager's head, ignoring the layer of grease that coated his fingers from her matted, green locks. He would have to speak to Tarou about permitting the girl a real bath instead of merely sponging her down. "You're so brave, Zetsu." The girl's crooked grin only widened at the comment and it made Kiyoshi's heart soar and also clench. This girl was nothing but a patient of his, an experiment, but he saw her as special to him as his own daughter. It struck him with guilt, as he had spent the past week with his daughter yet his thoughts were solely on K-MF-084 the whole time which had spurred his early return. Now that he had seen the girl was indeed fine, perhaps he could sneak back home unnoticed and before his wife and daughter awoke to discover him missing.

However, his thoughts were shattered when an unexpected earthquake thrashed the laboratory and Kiyoshi and Ayana and the other nurses occupying the wing were thrown to the ground. The children screamed, diving beneath their covers as the ward trembled and the lights were shortly knocked out, submerging the clinic in pitch blackness occupied by the dying whine of the medical equipment as they powered down and the crashing of containers striking the ground. The quaking resumed for several seconds before it thinned then ceased completely. A moment later, the backup generators activated as the lights flickered back on and the equipment whirled back to life, revealing the ward was in tatters as glass and medical supplied littered the ground.

Kiyoshi stood, helping Ayana back to her feet and dusting off the debris from the ceiling from her coat and hair. Once he ensured her wellness, he hurried to 084's bedside and riffled through the blankets where she had barricaded herself beneath, discovering the teenager cowering and clenching her bear.

"Zetsu, it's alright sweetheart." Kiyoshi cooed as he coaxed the shaking girl out of her hiding hole, hugging her against his chest and stoking her back. The other nurses recovered from their tumble and quickly pursued the chore of comforting the startled children in matters not so gently as Kiyoshi which involved scolding and harsh hushing.

"What was that?" Ayana gasped, glancing around the trashed clinic. "An earthquake? In Kusagakure?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, blonde curls coiling themselves around the frame of his glasses. "I don't know."

After the children were calmed and secured back in their beds, the nurses made haste of leaving the ward while Ayana and Kiyoshi stayed back. Kiyoshi had managed to soothe 084 also, tucking her back in bed and checking that her numerous IVs and feeding tube had not been dislodged during the earthquake before turning to Ayana. "Wasn't 001's field test today?"

"Yes it was," Ayana said before realizing what Kiyoshi had actually asked and gasped. "You don't think…that was Iwagakure?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, gazing at 084 who was in the process of falling asleep and tugged the blankets higher so they also covered the purple bear clenched in her arms. "K-MF-001 could not survive such an explosion so I hope not." He said, biting down on his bottom lip. _'But, I also do.'_

…

Meanwhile in the meeting room on the opposite side of the laboratory, Ryouta climbed from the floor, the earthquake having knocked him directly out of his seat and he rubbed his head, checking his hand for any blood from the collision between his head and the ground. He stood, discovering Tarou still sitting on the opposite side of the long conference table and calmly sipping his coffee, the intense shaking having no effect on his obese frame except for some unattractive jiggling.

"It would appear Iwagakure is fighting back," Tarou remarked, shoving an entire half of wheat toast into his mouth and chewing noisily. "K-MF-001 must be giving them quite the scare."

"They better not harm him. K-MF-001 is worth more than their pitiful lives." Ryouta commented as he returned to his chair, straightening his silk tie and smoothing out the wrinkles to his black suit. It was a special occasion today and he had dressed to impress for his video conference call with the Council after K-MF-001's field test concluded. He had never spoken personally with the Council before and wanted to look good when they called to praise his work.

"K-MF-001 has been weaponized specially for the elimination of entire armies. The worse they can do is give him a headache to nurse in the morning." Tarou said, slurping down the rest of his hot coffee. "Relax Ryouta. Such a worrywart, you are. Have a cup."

Ryouta accepted his superior's nugget of advice as he left the conference room to retrieve a cup of coffee only to discover the earthquake had totaled the kitchen and destroyed the coffee pot in the process, as apparent by the horde of flustered scientists and doctors cleaning the mess. Instead, he decided on a soda, stepping over the rubble and his coworkers to the tipped fridge and retrieving a can from within before maneuvering to the exit and back to the meeting room. He sat back down and popped the coke, sipping on it and allowing the caffeine to distract his anxious brain with a sugar rush while he and Tarou awaited for K-MF-001 to report back.

However, after an hour, the anxiety reared its ugly head again when K-MF-001 had yet to return and there were no farther evidence of fighting topside. His unease was only made worse when Tarou unsheathed Kaiya, his beloved repeating crossbow from his hip and began to polish its golden handle with his shirt while humming a happy tune.

"Ryouta, is the tracking device in K-MF-001 active?" Tarou questioned, making Ryouta flinch and as a result, spill the remainder of his soda onto the table.

"Y-Yes." The black-haired man replied, quickly backing up his seat to avoid the river of soda that cascaded off the side of the table towards him and got up search for something to clean the mess. "Yes it is. So long as K-MF-001 is within a five mile radius of the laboratory."

"Is his shut off switch automatic or manual?"

"Manual. To avoid incident I had installed it in Toshi's office." Ryouta explained, finding a random assortment of paperwork in the trash bin and used it to sop up the coke.

Tarou nodded, admiring his own golden reflection with a grin. "Why don't you head up there and track K-MF-001? We don't need him wandering off and eating some poor soul." Ryouta accepted the suggestion as he left the conference room and speed walked his way down the corridor towards Toshi's office, eager to locate K-MF-001 before he hurt himself or escaped.

Toshi was the laboratory's lone security guard and his "office" was just a polite term used to refer to the cramped, closet-sized security office he worked within. The office lacked a door, being no room for it, and Ryouta popped his head in, discovering the overweight officer staring blankly at the stacks of monitors that displayed various parts of the lab while eating from a baker's dozen box of chocolate donuts on his lap.

"Toshi." Ryouta hissed and Toshi jumped, dropping the donut he had been munching on and made a subconscious grab for the stun rob strapped to his side before realizing who had addressed him.

"Ryouta-sama, you scared me!" Toshi scolded, removing his hand from his weapon as he hunched over to retrieve his discarded treat from the floor, dusting it off before shoving it into his mouth. "Haw ca I hep hoo?"

"K-MF-001 hasn't returned yet. I need to activate his tracking device." Before Toshi could reply, Ryouta was shoving past him, squeezing into the few inches between the hefty man and the panel controlling the cameras scattered along the laboratory towards the wall where a separate monitor and keyboard were located.

Ryouta scanned his identification card through the card reader installed on the panel and the vector monitor booted up, displaying a green, blocky text that read 'Loading' for several seconds before another text replaced it that said 'Password'. Ryouta typed in his password, glaring at Toshi so the obese man didn't take an unwanted peek and the screen flickered, a horizontal white line rolling down the screen as it slowly loaded random shapes to represent Kusagakure with a solid white square for the hospital. Once the map loaded, the white line distorted into a circle as a sonar was emitted across the digital Kusagakure, searching for K-MF-001 tracking device. A minute and a few pulses later, the radar had yet to locate 001 and Ryouta felt his stomach sour.

"No, no, no!" Ryouta whispered, grasping the boxed monitor. "Where is he? Did he escape Kusagakure? No…no!"

"There he is." Toshi injected suddenly.

"What?"

"There." The security guard pressed a chocolate coated finger against the screen, pointing out a flashing dot that had been hiding behind the hospital illustration the entire time.

Ryouta eyebrows knitted as he peered closer. "What? That's the emergency elevator. Has he been there the entire time? What is he-?" However, he was interrupted as the monitor overseeing the emergency elevator in the infirmary wing began to flash with bold, red text that read 'Warning'.

"Emergency elevator in use. Emergency elevator in use." A feminine voice announced through speakers of the screen, repeating the phrase until Toshi silenced it by jabbing his thumb on a random button.

"About time he figure how to press a button." Ryouta huffed as he reached for the microphone that was connected to the intercom system of the entire laboratory. "Attention, I need the retrieval until for K-MF-001 to prepare and report to the emergency elevator in the Infirmity Wing, immediately. K-MF-001's retrieval until to the emergency elevator in the Infirmary Wing immediately."

Ryouta concluded the announcement and scooted back past Toshi towards the door. "Toshi, I need you to press that red button on the panel before you unlock the elevator. It will activate the shut off switch for K-MF-001 and enable us to safely transport him back to his vault." Toshi glanced around before discovering the obvious, big red button and nodded, swallowing down another whole donut. "Do not press it until the retrieval unit and I are on scene and do not open the elevator until you shut down K-MF-001 and do not press the button more than once. The shut off switch in K-MF-001's head renders him unconscious by shocking specific sections of his brain. Pressing that button more than once might severely damage his brain or potentially kill him. Do you understand?" Toshi nodded again, suppling a chocolate smeared thumbs up and Ryouta finally left to depart towards the emergency elevator.

Within a minute or two, he entered the infirmity wing and jogged towards the emergency elevator that sat at the end of the stunted hallway, his footfalls echoing on the metal walkway. The red warning lights installed above the elevator were flashing and spinning, bathing the dim hall in an ominous light and making the atmosphere feel significantly creepier as Ryouta stood there alone and waiting for the others to show up. After several minutes, two of the makeshift members of the retrieval unit arrived, another scientist wheeling a dolly and a nurse wielding a frighteningly large syringe with a seductive for the possible chance the off switch in K-MF-001 malfunctioned. Seconds behind them were two male doctors, one carrying the proper chaining and iron mask to bind the unstable experiment while the other had another uncomfortably sized syringe for the even less possible chance that the off switch did not work, nor did the first injection of drugs. Originally, there had been six members of this slapped together retrieval unit, but when they had been loading K-MF-001 into the elevator to transport him to the surface, his seductive had worn off and in the few seconds he was freed, he managed to amputate the arm of one member and strike another so hard they were sent to the hospital with bleeding of the brain. It was why Ryouta chose not to take any chances this time around and activate his shut off switch for safer loading and unloading.

Once everyone was gathered, Ryouta looked up at the camera staring at them and waved his hand towards the elevator, signaling Toshi. There were no cameras in the emergency elevator so Ryouta had to trust Toshi has pressed the button as told, and said button had worked, when moments later, the blaring lights stopped and turned green before the doors began to slowly chug open. The team of various members of the laboratory tensed, prepared to risk their lives to wrangle the abomination into submission while Ryouta held his breath, the seconds ticking by like hours until the doors fully opened. When they finally did, however, the held breath was released into a gasp with everyone else present gasping as well and single female nurse screaming when K-MF-001 stepped out, or at least, what remained of the experiment.

The man was nearly unrecognizable as his pale complex was now a charred black and no longer resembled a human being but rather a burnt slab of meat and protruding bone. The experiment took another step forward, his mangled leg breaking off completely and he tittered for a couple of seconds before his sole remaining lacerated eye rolled back into his exposed skull and with a bloody gurgle, he topped to the ground, splashing the hall with hot blood and a spray of melted flesh. The nurse fainted and the two doctors dropped everything to flee to the nearest wastebasket and vomit.

"No!" Ryouta yelled, instantly rushing to the side of his cherished experiment, ignoring the putrid stench of burnt flesh and blood that emitted from his body. "No! Those bastards! My work! My work!"

Kiyoshi and Ayana had been casually chatting in the ward when the lights to the emergency elevator switched on and they overheard the announcement by Ryouta, followed shortly by Ryouta himself and the gathering of the 'retrieval unit' outside. The two stepped out into the hallway to perceive the event when the elevator doors opened and K-MF-001 fell out, dead. Ayana gasped, covering her mouth and burying her face against her friend's shoulder to block out the gruesome sight while on the other hand, Kiyoshi sighed and shook his head. His reaction was mixed, internal horror was tinted with unspoken relief with the experiment's overdue passing.

' _Finally…'_ Kiyoshi bowed his head and hugged Ayana, muttering a small pray beneath his breath for the departed man. ' _May you rest in peace with your daughter, Itsuki.'_

"Ryouta, what has happened?"

Kiyoshi flinched from the voice and looked behind to see Tarou, the man strangely lightfooted for someone of his immense size and had not been heard entering. Ryouta straightened up, adjusting his tie with shaking hands as he glanced between his boss and failed experiment. Suddenly, he had the funny feeling he wouldn't be attending that video conference with the Council, or had a job any long for that matter.

"Tarou-sama…Iwagakure, t-they killed K-MF-001!" Ryouta stuttered through his quivering jaw, mind scrambling for something to say that might convince his superior to preserve his job and skin. Unfortunately, saying he could fix it was not an option.

"Oh, well that's a pity, considering how much you reinsured me about K-MF-001's capabilities, Ryouta." Tarou said, though such pity was not present in his voice. It made a shiver course up Kiyoshi's spine and he clasped Ayana closer out of unconscious protectiveness. He had witnessed Tarou's temper in the past. The man was like that of a volcano, docile and nonthreatening when undisturbed but when the internal pressure became overwhelming he would erupt, and when he did, it was violent. Ryouta swallowed thickly at the man's unusual calmness regarding the current situation considering their entire project may now be jeopardized with K-MF-001's death. "And I guess there is no saving him?"

Ryouta shook his head. There weren't enough pieces of his left to save. Tarou sniffed and audibly cracked his jaw, making everyone present flinch from the quiet sound due to the tense atmosphere smothering them and carefully eye Tarou's hand for any movement towards his sheathed crossbow buckled at his hip. "A pity, but even dead, K-MF-001 is far too valuable to just toss out. His body will be stored in the morgue to preserve what is left of him. Ken."

The one remaining scientist that had been awkwardly standing about jumped at the mention of his name, nervously facing his boss. "Retrieve the gurney and take K-MF-001 to the morgue, would you kindly?" The man, Ken, nodded and scurried off to do such, nearly tripping over the still unconscious nurse on the floor.

The man returned with said gurney and Ryouta assisted in heaving K-MF-001 onto it, gagging at the smell that wafted from his corpse and the jelly-like texture of his skin, making a mental note to wash his hands with bleach later. Once secured, the two men wheeled him away, swerving around the unconscious woman. After they had left, Tarou sighed and adjusted his tie, judging how he would break such devastating news to the Council when he noticed Kiyoshi and Ayana who had been quietly viewing the entire time.

"Ah, Kiyoshi, you're back. Was your break refreshing?" Tarou asked nicely, eyes curving into friendly half-moons yet it still unsettled the other man.

Kiyoshi nodded. "Yes it was." He said, though it was a half-truth. It had been until now.

Tarou grinned, his teeth an unsightly shade of yellow. "Well you returned at the perfect time. With K-MF-001 defunct, we can begin optimizing K-MF-084 to replace him immediately. Hopefully the Council forgives this blunder." With that said, Tarou walked off to speak with Ryouta and discuss how they would explain their failure to the Council, or more precisely, Ryouta's failure.

Kiyoshi's stomach plummeted to his toes and Ayana, noticing the white sheen that bleached his face, instantly guided him back into the ward in case he vomited or even fainted. Kiyoshi sat back down beside K-MF-084's bedside, the girl fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the events which had just occurred outside and her possible future. Ayana brought Kiyoshi a cup of water and he sipped it, his stomach rejecting the harmless liquid and he handed it back to her, cheeks tinted green.

"Kiyoshi-kun, it will be fine." Ayana reinsured him, rubbing his shoulder as she crouched alongside him. "It is impossible for the Council to approve of optimizing 084 after 001's failure. It took years for us to perfect 001 and even that wasn't enough."

Kiyoshi removed his eyeglasses and pressed his fingers against his eyes, trying will away the pure fear that terrorized him following Tarou's words with optimism. "You are right. The most they may approve of is the original plan to activate 084's Mayfly and use her as a mole." He told himself, but his own words rang hollow to him as there was the real chance they may decide to scrap their original motivations for instant results. K-MF-084 already possessed an unstable strain of the Mayfly, and it would not take much to mutate her into the abomination that K-MF-001 had been.

"084 shall be fine, Kiyoshi-kun." Ayana embraced her companion and Kiyoshi returned the gesture with half the heart.

' _Lord, I hope so.'_ Kiyoshi thought as he watched K-MF-084's slumbering face. Otherwise, he would do everything in his power to protect her.


	10. Arc 1: Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The test run with Iwa ended in failure and the Council isn't happy.

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 9**

" _ **This failure is inexcusable, Tarou. You spent the last several months reinsuring us that K-MF-001 could eliminate the Iwagakure army occupying Kusagakure and you did not fulfil that promise."**_ A woman's voice scolded Tarou through the speakers of a tiny monitor he and Ryouta were currently seated before.

Ryouta sighed and plopped his chin in his hand, staring at the flickering screen. The video conference with the Council, as Tarou had hyped him up about, turned to be nothing more than a television displaying static and emitting the voices of the Council members. He had spent the night ironing his best suit and reciting his forgiveness speech and improv for nothing.

"I promised you he could eliminate the Iwagakure army squatting in Old Kusagakure if you approved the field test, which he accomplished. Just in exchange of his own life." Tarou explained smoothly, adjusting himself in his seat. "That is why I am asking for your approval of K-MF-084. She can finish 001's handiwork with Iwagakure. She possesses the same strain of Mayfly as K-MF-001 and is the perfect candidate to replace him."

" _ **Absolutely not."**_ A man now spoke up. _ **"The purpose for K-MF-084 is specific to our intentions and her Mayfly shall not be tampered with. Due to K-MF-001's field test, Iwagakure is on the offensive and we do not have the time or resources to concentrate into shaping 084 into another 001."**_

"It would only take a month, at the most to weaponize her." Tarou insisted, scrambling for anything that sounded convincing. He wished Kiyoshi was here to vouch for him, but the man had fled home moments after their discussion yesterday and Tarou hadn't had the chance to inform him of the delayed meeting the next morning. Not that the man might be of much help anyway, he avoided speaking about K-MF-084 like the plague. "Just one month."

" _ **No Tarou."**_ Another male voice said and Tarou recognized it as the man as the employer of the shinobi he had purposely fed to K-MF-001. He still could not recall his organization's name. Branch, Twig…Trunk? _**"Our time and money is too limited to trust your promises again. Those men you sacrificed for one of your test runs cost me more than your little pet, each. Your authority over the Mayfly project has been revoked and funding has been cancelled. We are handing this project to another person and the project is be relocated."**_ Tarou twitched and Ryouta heard his knuckles cracking over the noisy static followed by a sudden acceleration of temperature in the room that made him tug at his collar to relieve the heat that had struck him.

"I've worked on this project for nearly a decade…I have given you both 001 and 084. You simply can't replace me…"

" _ **We just did, Tarou. The project shall be handled by a person whom has decades of trust with us."**_ The female Council member retorted.

"And…who might that be?" Tarou asked, voice strained and Ryouta glanced at the door, debating if he should stay for the inevitable Mt. Tarou explosion.

" _ **You shall meet him,"**_ The Branch, Twig, Trunk leader paused, clearing his throat. " _ **Ahem…her, personally in a few days. She will be escorted to Kusagakure by my men to pick up K-MF-084 and all paperwork regarding her and the entire Mayfly project. Until then, you are not to tamper with K-MF-084. That is final. Goodbye Tarou."**_ With that, the screen went black and an uncomfortable silence settled through the conference room.

After several tense seconds, Ryouta glanced at Tarou to find the man shaking, biting his bottom lip and his fat hand curled into a fist with knuckles bleach white. Immediately, the scientist chose to leave before he became subject of Tarou's rage over the Council's rejection and stood to quietly tiptoe out.

"Ryouta." Tarou sang.

Ryouta froze in the doorway, gazing back at Tarou to discover the man was polishing his crossbow once again to curb his anger, fingers quivering as he did and jaw clenched. Ryouta swallowed. "Yes, Tarou-sama?"

"Do you not have a spare tracking device from K-MF-001?"

"Yes…yes I do. It was for the chance his ever malfunctioned."

Tarou lifted his weapon, its golden sheen shining wickedly in the light. "And it is equipped with the emergency shut off?"

"Yes." Ryouta answered, admittedly unsure as to where his boss was taking this conversation.

"I want you to equip K-MF-084 with the device immediately." Tarou finally revealed, standing from his groaning seat and sheathing his bow, patting it through his dress shirt.

"Might I ask why? I see no reason why K-MF-084 would require a tracking device if she will be transferred in a matter of days…"

"Just fucking do it, Ryouta. By next week, all our jobs might be obsolete so I suggest you earn your last damned paycheck until then!" Tarou barked, making Ryouta jump back a few inches, expecting to be shot following the outburst. The black haired man nodded and groped from the doorknob when Tarou interrupted him again. "And Ryouta? Secure K-MF-084 in K-MF-001's vault after the procedure. After I announce the Mayfly project will be changing hands, including 084, I am positive Kiyoshi might attempt something. He has become very attracted to her and will not take kindly to her departure." Ryouta nodded and once Tarou waved him off, he stole the chance to separate himself from the man as quickly as possible as he began gathering his team for the abrupt surgery.

…

That morning, Kiyoshi felt like death but he forced himself to report to work and walked to the infirmity ward to check on Ayana and K-MF-084.

Yesterday, Kiyoshi had entrusted 084's wellbeing with Ayana again while he briefly ran home to check on his family after the earthquake. When he arrived, he found his house in shambles and his wife and kid outside, soaked to the bone and horribly shaken. The earthquake had dislodged a massive slab of foundation from the academy they neighboured and it had crashed directly through their roof. Thankfully, it had landed in the kitchen and did not harm to either of them as they had been sleeping soundly in their bedrooms.

His daughter, Miku, had fled into his arms, crying, and Kiyoshi asked his Sayuri if she was alright. He expected a yes or no, he did not expect his wife to explode into a fit of screaming. In began with his workload, migrating into his lack of contact with his own daughter and wife, despite spending the past week with them both, then it accelerated into accusations of him cheating and that he was sneaking away from his own family to sleep around with Ayana. It had severely startled Kiyoshi and he struggled to explain his absence was not about Ayana but a girl he was currently caring for that was sick and had left to check on her. Sayuri ignored it and wrenched a sniveling Miku from his arms, declaring she was leaving for her parents' home in the Land of Fire until their home was repaired and when she returned, she expected their home to be fixed and Kiyoshi to shape up or their marriage was over.

Kiyoshi fought with her the entire way through the house as she packed a suitcase with Miku crying on his leg. It did little to deter her and after packing a bag for both her and their daughter, she yanked Miku along and left out the door without a word. He had chased her outside but soon lost her in all the commotion between the Kusagakure residents migrating towards Old Kusagakure and the Iwagakure shinobi rushing to rope off the area so they could investigate the source of the explosion. Defeated, he walked back into his demolished home and spent the rest of the day crashed on the couch and staring out the gaping hole in his roof while listening to the shouting outside. He hadn't slept a wink that night.

His entire life was coming apart at the seams. First, there was the possibly K-MF-084 would be approved by the Council and mutated into another 001. Now, his wife was convinced he was having an affair with Ayana and threatening divorce and had dragged his own daughter away from him. He questioned if his life could worsen at this point.

"Kiyoshi-kun!" Suddenly came Ayana's scream over his thoughts. He glanced up from his feet to discover Ryouta and his team exiting the infirmity, shoving a gurney through the door with a horrified Ayana hot on their heels. On the gurney, was a cowering K-MF-084. His worse fear had become a reality.

"Hey! Stop! Wait!" Kiyoshi yelled as he cut off Ryouta, holding his hands out. He hadn't approved of any surgeries today. "What is happening? The Council…t-they approved?" Before Ryouta could explain they were simply outfitting the girl with a tracking chip under Tarou's command, said man approached from behind, face outfitted with a smile despite his inner turmoil raging on with the Council's decision.

"No, they did not. You can rest easy, Kiyoshi." Regardless hearing exactly what he wanted to hear, Kiyoshi did not rest easy because he did not trust Tarou and knew he was hiding something behind that fake smile. Those mistrusts were proven true when his superior noticed his intent stare and knew he had not fallen for his truthful lie, releasing a defeated sigh. "The Council is cancelling my control over the Mayfly project and K-MF-084 is being transferred." Ayana gasped at the news, covering her mouth and Kiyoshi could hear his crumbling world finally shatter into a million pieces.

"T-Transferred? Where? Where!?" Kiyoshi demanded, turning towards Tarou instead and grabbing his silk shirt causing the man's faux smile dropped from his flabby face. Ryouta stepped back from the range of the incoming eruption. "How could yo-?"

The words shortly died in Kiyoshi's throat as something cold and sharp poked his forehead. Everyone gasped, backing away and Ayana screamed his name, rushing forward but Ryouta caught her and wrestled her into his arms so she did not get herself potentially shot also. Kiyoshi peered over the thick rim of his glasses and saw the barrel of Tarou's hand-sized crossbow aimed at his head, the gleaming tip of cocked arrow digging into his skin and blood bubbling from the contact.

"Listen here, Kiyoshi." Tarou began, voice low and void of any of his usual cheerful tone as he stroked the trigger. Kiyoshi swallowed thickly, his heart caught in his throat. "You've brought this all on yourself. You should have known better than to become attached to a lab rat. K-MF-084 is being handed over, whether you want that or not. Do you have any objections to this?" Kiyoshi said nothing, tongue too numb to speak and Tarou smiled again, removing the bloodthirsty weapon from the man's sweaty forehead but kept it posed at him. "Perfect. Now then, the new overseer of the Mayfly project shall be here in a few days and until then, K-MF-084 will be contained in 001's vault for safekeeping. I suggest you begin gathering all your paperwork to hand over and prepare your farewell."

Tarou gestured the medical team through and Ryouta released Ayana, the woman instantly running into Kiyoshi's arms and embracing the trembling man, shaking herself. Ryouta led his team towards the surgical bay, sparing Kiyoshi a remorseful look. K-MF-084 was wheeled past and the frightened teenager reached out to Kiyoshi, the doctor grasping her thin hand before it was cruelly yanked away. Her gifted bear bounced off the gurney to the ground which none of the doctors paid mind as they carelessly trampled it before Kiyoshi could rescue it. The blonde squeezed the plush against his chest as he watched K-MF-084 vanish around the corner, his heart aching and tears stinging his eyes. Ayana gently nudged the man into the dark infirmity ward and sat him down in the chair beside K-MF-084's empty bedside before searching around for a small enough bandage for the cut on his forehead.

"How could this have happened?" Kiyoshi whispered, mindful of the children currently sleeping in the clinic. "Everything…everything I've ever had is gone. I…I have to do something. I can't let them take away K-MF-084."

"What can you do, Kiyoshi-kun?" Ayana asked as she returned with the required med, applying a droplet of antibiotic to the cut before pressing the bandage over it, careful not to glue his hair also.

"Run away. If I can somehow rescue K-MF-084, we can run away. All of us."

Ayana quirked a dark eyebrow at the broad plural use. "All of us?"

"You, I and 084. We'll all run away. My parents own a ranch in Sunagakure so we can retreat there. We can raise 084, give her the life she deserves."

Ayana gasped at the implication. "Kiyoshi-kun, what about your family? You can't just leave them behind!" She scolded, though was admittedly faltered that Kiyoshi wanted her to join him.

Kiyoshi bit his lip, the reminder of his current plight concerning his wife and daughter distressing him further. He hugged the abused bear against his chest, trying to shift himself into the mindset of a child and draw superficial comfort from the simple toy. "My wife is staying with her parents with Miku. She's threatening divorce."

Ayana gasped again, blue eyes widening at the unfathomable news. "D-Divorce? But you two seemed so happy when we last had dinner. It was two years ago, but I can't imagine why Sayuri would purpose such a thing?"

"She thinks I am having an affair with you." Kiyoshi answered quietly, twisting his golden wedding ring on his finger. It felt a thousand times heavier now and like his finger would break off.

"An affair? Between us?" Ayana remarked, voice spiking and one of the children rolled over in their bed, coughing before falling silent again. "Oh, Kiyoshi-kun. I never…I am so sorry. I'm sorry I could ever make Sayuri think such a thing. This is my fault."

"No!" Kiyoshi barked, thrusting forward from his seat and grasping Ayana's hands, holding them against his chest as he stared into her matching orbs, making the woman helplessly blush. "None of this is your fault, Ayana-chan. My marriage was doomed the moment the government overtook the Mayfly project. That isn't important right now. Right now, we need to concentrate on 084 and how we can rescue her before she is retrieved in only a few days."

"But what can we do, Kiyoshi-kun? Tarou has 084 contained in 001's vault. Neither of us has access."

Kiyoshi sighed, releasing his friend's hands as he stroked his hands through his unruly curls. "I don't know…I would need a pass card but there are only four and I can't ask anyone for theirs. I would have to steal it…I don't know!" Kiyoshi picked up the bear again and buried his face into its thinning fur. "I failed 001…I won't fail 084 too."

Ayana comforted the man with a tight hug. "You'll think of something, Kiyoshi-kun. You won't fail her, you never have. You have a few days. That should be enough time."

"I hope so…" Kiyoshi whispered, embracing her back and staring woefully at the sad bear hanging from his hand.

…

The surgery to insert the tracking device in K-MF-084 took only a few hours. Afterward, she was taken to the basement level of the laboratory and wheeled to the vault that had formerly contained K-MF-001. Ryouta followed behind his team, behind him was Tarou, smile stitched back to his face though Ryouta was unsure if his rage was still boiling so he kept his safe distance.

The vault was a brightly lit six by six foot room made of pure steel walls with matching floor and ceiling that prevented escape by use of Mayfly. There was no bed, instead a metal slab protruding from the wall was used to sleep on without the comfort of a pillow or blanketing after K-MF-001 had devoured them in a hunger-induced rampage and never been replaced. The doctors carried the unconscious K-MF-084 inside and set her on the bench before walking out and shoving the heavy vault door closed. Ryouta scanned his clearance card and the thick, cylinder locks slammed into their sockets one after another, successfully locking K-MF-084 within and anyone out.

Their required labour complete, Ryouta dismissed his unit and the doctors left, Tarou sparing them a smile which made them hurry down the hallway even faster. Ryouta stepped by to leave also but paused beside Tarou, something bothering him.

"Tarou-sama, if I may?"

"You may, Ryouta." Tarou granted.

"Why did you request K-MF-084 is be outfitted with a tracking device?"

Tarou's smile widened, becoming not so innocent any longer as his true colours began to shine through. "Wouldn't be a shame if when they came to retrieve K-MF-084 and when they were leaving the village, she just suddenly…died?" With that said, Tarou turned and left, smile intact and Ryouta felt a shiver roll down his spine.

Tarou's lack of sympathy for human life was frightening once he had been crossed. No one was safe, not even a child.


	11. Arc 1: Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K-MF-084 is scheduled to taken away by the Council and Kiyoshi is desperate to save her.

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 10**

The next few days before K-MF-084 was set to be picked up, were the longest days Kiyoshi had ever had to endure in his life. He didn't sleep and ate little as his mind was split between her and his family, mainly 084. Kiyoshi distracted his distraught mind with memories of when he had met 084. It had been sever years ago when he and another doctor had gone to the village orphanage to obtain children for the Mayfly project. They wielded a false tale about another Hidden Village offering to shelter a small percentage of the orphans and they were going to evaluate them to ensure their health before handing them over. The sisters that owned the orphanage were more than happy to give the children over, their resources and finances stretched thin with the increase of children orphaned due to the wars. After Kiyoshi and the doctor obtained an acceptable group, they were about to depart when another sister ran after them, a child at her hip with a head of moss and honeycomb eyes.

The girl was tiny, smaller than other children her age, and very sickly as her skin was unhealthily pale and covered her bones like a white sheet. The sister told Kiyoshi about the girl, named Zetsu, about how she had been abandoned at their front doorstep as an infant and her lifelong battle with an unknown stomach illness. It prevented her from digesting food and upon consumption, would immediately regurgitate it so her diet only consisted of soft foods such porridge and mushed fruit, as it was the only things she was capable of keeping down. Due to their restricted funds, they could not take her to a doctor to be diagnosed and pleaded with Kiyoshi to take her so she may finally get the help she needed. Kiyoshi reluctantly agreed and took the little girl's hand, remembering how tiny it had been in his palm and how she limped alongside him from how weak her legs were from malnutrition. It was a miracle was still alive in such a sad state. He introduced himself to the girl but she said nothing, just staring at him with those large, golden eyes. He couldn't recall her ever uttering a word.

The children were taken to the laboratory and underwent routine screening for any diseases or disorders that might interfere with the introduction of the Mayfly. When they did, they discovered the source of Zetsu's impaired condition when she tested positive for possessing the Mayfly herself, a pure blooded carrier. Everyone celebrated with champagne that night. The Kekkei Genkai, however, was unstable as it had already mutated the enzymes responsible for digestion which explained her inability to eat 'normal' foods. The doctors with shinobi training reported her chakra pathways were 'infected', the Mayfly polluting them and if not ceased, would travel to her brain and reprogram it. Immediately, upon obtaining knowledge of the girl's bloodline, the Council ordered for her to undergo chemotherapy with the formula Kiyoshi had crafted to prevent her Mayfly from progressing farther so she may be used at a later occasion for their planned intentions.

With her currently in containment, Kiyoshi feared for her Mayfly. She had never been off her chemotherapy or feeding tube for so long, not even for surgeries, and he couldn't imagine how scared she was, locked up and alone like a prisoner. To save his sanity, he occupied his days with gathering together all records on K-MF-084 and the Mayfly and planning her rescue. It wasn't impossible, he soon realized, and as he thought on it more, the more optimistic he became. He had managed to narrow it down to three objectives. Now he just had to wait the perfect opportune moment. It came two days later. The night before K-MF-084 was arranged to be retrieved by the representatives of the Council.

It was evening and everyone was either changing shifts to the hospital or retiring for the night. Kiyoshi stood in his office, piling together paperwork and eyeing the people that walked past his open door towards the elevator that led to the hospital, counting bodies and striking off names to ensure there wouldn't be a soul left in the laboratory. After about an hour, there was a knock on his door.

"Tarou-sama." Kiyoshi said, greeting the overweight man standing at the door before noticing Ryouta awkwardly standing behind the doorframe. "Ryouta."

"Ah, Kiyoshi, I see you have all the paperwork ready." Tarou stated, observing the stacks upon stacks of neatly arranged folders of paperwork that sat on the man's desk. "Perfect. I just had confirmation that our guest plus party are within the Woodlands and should arrive in Kusagakure by tomorrow afternoon." Kiyoshi nodded, swallowing down the bile that crept in his throat at the thought of those people being within hours of taking K-MF-084 away forever. "Our guest is eager to meet you and Ryouta both tomorrow. The men behind the Mayfly."

"Honoured." Kiyoshi said dryly. Ryouta coughed.

"Perfect. Well, good night, Kiyoshi. I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow. Oh, and perhaps wear something nice?" Kiyoshi nodded, and Tarou gifted him a smile before waddling off. Ryouta did not follow and Kiyoshi quirked an eyebrow when the man clearly had something caught on his tongue.

"I'm sorry about K-MF-084." Ryouta finally said, rubbing the back of his head. "You obviously love the girl and if 001 hadn't died then the Council wouldn't be revoking her. Better care should have been taken."

"It's alright, Ryouta." Kiyoshi said, surprised by the man's honest apology. "None of us could have predicted this."

Ryouta shrugged. "Perhaps. Anyway, just wanted that off my chest. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Kiyoshi."

"Good night, Ryouta." Ryouta delivered a small wave as he left.

The short talk had touched Kiyoshi. Since the day Ryouta was employed as head of K-MF-001's project, the man had initiated a playful rivalship with Kiyoshi and their respective experiments. When 001 was acknowledged by the Council, the rivalship became competitive with Ryouta viewing himself and 001 superior to Kiyoshi and 084 which made Kiyoshi's impression of the fellow man sour over the years. Especially after witnessing the lengths he was willing to go through to 'train' 001. To see the man's humanity again was enduring.

Only minutes later, there another knock on his door and he smiled when seeing it was Ayana, clad in her jacket and handmade scarf, probably ready to walk the man home as she did most nights. Not tonight however.

"Ayana-chan." Kiyoshi whispered, drawing the woman into a warm embrace. "They're coming for 084 tomorrow, tonight is my last chance. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, Kiyoshi-kun?" Ayana replied, voice muffled against his shoulder. "I came to tell you I've decided on your offer and want to come with."

"What!?" Kiyoshi gasped, stepping back and staring at the woman in pure shock. "Ayana-chan, you do not have to. I was emotional and blubbering. I never meant to make you feel pressured into this."

"No," Ayana shook her head, flicking her long, black hair over her shoulder. "I thought about it, I thought about it hard and realized after you and 084 was gone, I will have no reason to remain here. You two are the reason I come to the laboratory every morning and without you… I don't want to be without you both so I want to join you."

"Oh Ayana-chan…" Kiyoshi whispered, resisting the overwhelming urge to kiss her from her heart touching devotion. She was willing to abandon her career for him and 084. If for some reason his wife did not accept him back, even after he finally told her the truth, it was nice to know he wouldn't be completely alone with Ayana and 084.

"Is there anything I can do to help you rescue 084?"

"No, I have a plan. If you are serious about joining us then I suggest going home and packing whatever you might need or want. After I get 084, I will meet you at your home then we'll leave the village. Hopefully Iwagakure will permit us to cross the bridges out of the country and from there we'll take a carriage to Sunagakure."

Ayana nodded. "Alright, I can do that. How long should I wait before I come back in case something happens?"

Kiyoshi checked his watch, estimating how long his tasks might take all together. "I should be no more than two hours. If I do not arrive by that time, return here…" He hesitated. "If for any reason I rescue 084 but cannot leave…can you take 084?"

The request took Ayana back as her brows furrowed. "I can…" She said slowly. "But nothing is going to happen Kiyoshi-kun. You'll get 084 and we'll leave together. I'm positive about it."

Kiyoshi smiled at the woman's optimism. "Thank you, Ayana-chan. Go on now. Everyone is almost gone and I need to get this done as quickly as possible. I'll see you soon." Ayana obeyed and glided out of his office, her black hair and scarf fluttering behind.

After Ayana departed for her necessary packing and the last accounted person departed the laboratory, Kiyoshi proceeded with his careful plan. Step one, securing a key card required to unlock the vault. There were four security cards that currently existed. One belonged to Ryouta, one to Tarou, the other to Toshi, and the last was a spare. Stealing the card off Ryouta and Tarou were impossible and he was unaware were the spare had floated off to, so that just left Toshi and the base of Kiyoshi's entire plan.

Kiyoshi left the security of his office, walking past the cubicles and offices and peeking inside each one as he past to ensure no one had decided to work later. After confirming he was alone there, he left the wing and into the main floor of the laboratory, heading through the hallway towards Toshi's office, the security room. Kiyoshi peered inside the closet, discovering Toshi nodding off in his seat only to be startled awake when Kiyoshi knocked on the doorframe. His hand darted toward his stun rod, but relented when noticing it was Kiyoshi and not an intruder.

"Oh, hey, Kiyoshi-san, you startled me." The overweight guard said, stifling a yawn. "Working late tonight?"

"Yeah, K-MF-084 is being retrieved tomorrow so I need to finish gathering together her paperwork."

"Oh right. Heard about that. I'm sorry about 084, she was…err, a good girl."

Kiyoshi willed a small smile. "It's alright, Toshi. I was going to make some coffee, would you like a cup?"

Toshi visibly perked up at the proposal. "Why yes I would. Three sugar. Thank you, Kiyoshi-san." Kiyoshi nodded before leaving the office and walking towards the kitchen, sneaking a veil from his pocket and into his sleeve.

He flipped the light to illuminate the scrunched together kitchen and proceeded with making the coffee in the brand new coffee pot which took him a moment to figure out how to use. He was much fonder of tea than coffee and the robust stench of the hot beverage made his anxious stomach wrench. Once the coffee began to brew, he dug out two random mugs from the cabinet and laid them out, waiting for the pot to steadily fill. After a few minutes, he deemed it full enough and poured the two cups, leaving his black while he dumped three sugars cubes into Toshi's as requested. As he stirred it, he slid the veil from beneath his sleeve and pierced the foil with his thumb nail before pouring it in also. It was a serum ingested by patients before surgeries, meant to make the recipient drowsy. Due to Toshi's near twenty-four hour schedule, he would be out in a matter of minutes.

He deposed of the container in the sink and picked up the steaming mugs, one in each hand, and departed back to Toshi's office. The guard was eagerly awaiting his return and graciously accepted his cup, sparing Kiyoshi a smile and thank you before he proceeded to slurp the scalding liquid, making the doctor wince.

"Ah, just perfect, thank you again, Kiyoshi-san." Toshi remarked, carefully placing the mug down on the control panel to avoid tempering with any of the sensitive buttoning.

"Of course, Toshi. I shall be in the infirmary wing. I need to prepare the medication necessary for 084." Toshi flashed him a thumbs up and Kiyoshi quietly left, marching towards the infirmary wing.

After letting himself in, he tiptoed into the medical ward so not awaken the slumbering children and retrieved a flashlight stored with the emergency supplies, using it to safely navigate through the darkened room to the storage closet located in the back. He fished out his keycard again and scanned it through the card reader, unlocking the metal door and engulfing him in the bitter air that bellowed from within as it slowly opened. The light inside automatically flickered on and Kiyoshi stepped inside, kicking down the stopper behind him so he wasn't locked inside as he scanned the refrigerated shelves. To his relief, 084's special medication was still stocked and hadn't been relocated or purged.

The medication was a creation of Kiyoshi himself, used not to cure the Mayfly but rather suppress its ability to mutate and override the host's brain, similar to the behavior observed in the Cordyceps fungi. Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to the drug resulted in stunted mental growth and dramatic memory loss which it why, despite being a teenager, 084 behaved half her age and her memory would erase itself every few months, including memories of Kiyoshi and herself. As sad as it was, it was a necessary evil. Kiyoshi restocked the formula once a month so the supply was thin, perhaps only two weeks' worth remained. He prayed it was enough to hold 084 through the travel to Sunagakure and until he could concoct more. Otherwise, he feared her Mayfly might begin its mutations once more.

Kiyoshi obtained a nearby box of frozen blood bags and dumped them out, using the container to carry the medication as he stacked the baggies of clear fluid within, the box barely large enough to hold them all. He relocked the freezer and set aside the box on a counter as he walked through the ward, picking up miscellaneous things he suspected he might need, mainly first aid supplies and piled them onto the overflowing box. Lastly, he yanked down the clipboard hanging over 084's empty bedside and threw it on the pile. It had all his notes he scribbled down after her procedures and chemotherapy. He did not intend on leaving behind a shred of information about her behind.

Kiyoshi heaved the box into his arms and waddled to the exit, nudging it open with his shoulder and softly closing it behind with his foot. He checked his wristwatch and discovered he had killed at least twenty minutes. Hopefully, Toshi was lost in dreamland by now as he left the infirmary and headed back towards Toshi's office, heart thumping as he prayed the man was out. His prayers were answered, as only feet away from the office, he could hear a very distinct snorting thundering from within. He jogged the remainder of the distance and peeked inside, discovering that guard fast asleep, slumped in his chair with his hands folded on his round belly. The coffee mug had been drained. Now to get the card.

Kiyoshi dropped the box and stepped into the room, debating where Toshi kept his clearance card as he visibly lacked it in his blue shirt pocket where most kept theirs. Kiyoshi kept his in his slack's pocket, which he tried as he dug into the man's front pants pockets, only finding a packet of chewing gum and a pill bottle of blood pressure medicine. He attempted his shirt pocket, on the off chance it was there but did not see it, only to fish out a handful of lint. That only left one more place, much to Kiyoshi's dismay. With a sigh, he rolled up the sleeves to his laboratory coat and leant forward, awkwardly pressing his face into the other man's chest as he reached behind to wiggle his hands into his back pant pockets. The reek of body odor liked old cheese assaulted his nose and tears welled in his eyes as he searched franticly. Thankfully, among the rolls of fat, his fingers traced the outline of a card and he hastily yanked it free, holding out the security card in success. It was red compared to Kiyoshi's yellow card and had a smiling picture of Toshi inked on the front. Toshi snorted in his sleep and Kiyoshi scurried out but paused when realizing there would be camera watching his every move with an unblinking eye. He debated about switching them off but another snore from Toshi made him disregard them as he fled back to his office. Engage step two, rescuing K-MF-084.

Once back to his office, he proceeded to gather together everything he had. He had brought an old duffle bag from home and unzipped it, piling in the tightly bound folders of paperwork inside, each folder containing a thousand plus pages. He crammed the dozen folders inside and barely managed to zip the bag closed around them. They left no room for 084's supplies so he stored them away in his suitcase instead which he had used to pack clothing for both himself and 084 for the trip. After everything was loaded, Kiyoshi made round of his office, checking cabinets and his desk to ensure no record of K-MF-084 remained, making sure to check behind said objects as well for any misplaced paper. He had been the only one with her records, he had never made copies or shared his notes with anyone else that would permit them to copy them, not even Tarou, so when nothing turned up, he was confident that he had safely secured away everything that had ever existed about her.

Kiyoshi shouldered the duffle bag, it weighing heavy and he had to rest the strap across his chest for better support and grabbed his suitcase before shuffling out of his office towards the elevator smuggled in the cubicle wing meant exclusively for descending to the basement level. Similar to the emergency elevator, only those with the special red keycard could access the basement elevator to prevent anyone from entering K-MF-001's floor unauthorized, so a key reader was in place of any buttons. Kiyoshi scanned the card and the elevator dinged, the doors sliding open without hesitation and he stepped inside, the doors closing and the elevator chugging downwards. The ride was short, only a floor before it slowed to a halt and he exited into a long, dim hallway.

The floor was only composed of the testing chamber, K-MF-001's vault and a single hallway that circled through them both so Kiyoshi walked through it at a brisk pace, eager to see K-MF-084 and get her free of that jail as quickly as possible. The hallway took a hard left into a pair of swinging doors and he pushed through them, a stumpy hallway was at his immediate right and at the end was a massive vault door that mirrored those seen in banks. Kiyoshi practically ran to it and dumped his bags before approaching the towering door, card in hand. He scanned it through the card reader and after a few agonizing seconds, it emitted a happy beep before the locks in the metal door retracted with an echoing slam, making Kiyoshi's jump and ears ring. The door slowly whined open and he grasped the handle, too anxious to await it to open itself as he heaved the heavy door back himself. Once it was wide open, he looked inside and his heart seized when he saw 084, slumped in the corner and not moving.

"Zetsu." Kiyoshi whispered, rushing inside. To his monumental relief, the girl lifted her head at the mutter of her name and her honey orbs peered up at him, dry lips widening into a beartrap grin as she muttered a happy noise. The doctor collapsed to his knees, embracing the girl and petting her unwashed hair, eyes welling with tears. "Oh Zetsu, I am so sorry."

The girl, Zetsu, whined again, unable to communicate with words, but it was obvious she did not blame him as she hugged him back. Kiyoshi pressed up his glasses, wiping his blue eyes as he returned the teenager's smile, relieved she had not been harmed while imprisoned despite being without food during that time. At least he hoped. He wouldn't put it past Tarou to place the girl on a 'carnivorous' diet considering the Mayfly. If not, he was positive she was hungry and he hoped she could ingest granola bars until they reached Sunagakure and he could get her replaced on a feeding tube after he forged new medical records for her.

"We're leaving, Zetsu. We're going somewhere new and you'll never be harmed again. No more surgeries, or procedures. You can know what it's like to be a child." Kiyoshi told her, brushing her hair with his fingers to loosen some of the drastic knots in it. They did not give and it was likely he would have to cut her hair later as the majority of it was snarled. As he did, he uncovered a shaved spot on the side of her head where the skin had been crudely sewn together. He feared what Tarou had done to her. "Does that sound nice?" Zetsu nodded, answering with another keen noise though Kiyoshi questioned she could even understand him but did not dwell on it. He had to get out of here, Ayana was waiting for them. Engage step three, get the hell out of Kusagakure.

Now that he had Zetsu, it was too dangerous to remain, even if he found somewhere in the village to hide out. He had committed that which parred with a federal offence for stealing government 'property' and he was positive Tarou would assemble an entire army to pursue him to get her back. If not him, then certainly the Council. Once in Sunagakure, he would mail his wife about everything that had happened and prayed she accepted such a tall tale and forgave him for abandoning their home in Kusagakure. Some people might think of him as a bastard for abandoning his family, but he considered 084 his family also and right now, she needed him more than anyone.

The storm lingered on outside so Kiyoshi shed his white, laboratory coat, bundling her tiny frame inside so she would not get a chill, being only clad in a flimsy hospital gown, before he assisted the teenager to her feet, her knobby knees trembling as they struggled to uphold her meager weight. Zetsu rarely walked, only walking with Kiyoshi to her surgeries every other week for samples and with his support, so her legs were not as well adjusted to walking as the normal person so after wobbling a few steps, she tumbled to the floor with Kiyoshi catching her before she struck the unforgiving metal floor. He did not want the girl to push herself, especially with the long travel ahead of them, and he scooped the teenager into his arms. She was skin and bones, being without a physical diet, so she was as light as a feather and Kiyoshi, not being a strong man, was able to balance her in his arms with ease.

Kiyoshi stepped out of the vault and balanced Zetsu against his shoulder as he retrieved his bags before walking back down the hallway and towards the elevator. Once he was in the elevator, he released a sigh and resisted the urge to burst into insane laughter with the overpowering wave of relief that washed over him. He had Zetsu, and he was on his way out. His plan had worked perfectly and cleanly. If Toshi hadn't fallen asleep from the seductive, he did not want to imagine what he would have had done to render him unconscious. He was glad there had been no need for it. He glanced down at Zetsu, discovering the girl had nodded off with her face buried against his neck and supplied a kiss to her cheek.

The elevator doors opened and Kiyoshi scurried out, around the maze of cubicles and towards the exit of the wing. Now, all he had to do was reach the emergency elevator, meet up with Ayana and get to Sunagakure. After that, all he had to be concerned with was adjusting Zetsu to her new life and groveling to his estranged wife to return and allow them all to be a single, happy family, Ayana included. It was highly doubtful, but he could dream. Sayuri's stubborn streak had been what charmed him when they both met during their school years, but now, that trait he once adored was raising hell. He was positive Miku would love to have a sister and Sayuri had always wanted a second child, but Kiyoshi could never give it to her. It could be so perfect.

All those thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt, piling into a jumble of nonsense, when he rounded the corner into the main corridor and viewed another person standing at the end of it, crouched outside of Toshi's office. At first, Kiyoshi's startled mind told him it was Toshi, having woken unexpectantly early from the drugs but it was quickly apparent it was not Toshi as the figure was twice the guard's height and clad in black trench coat.

"W-Who are you!?"

…

The next few days Kakuzu spent recouping and gathering vital intel for his objective of retrieving evidence of the Mayfly.

After the fray in Old Kusagakure, he checked in the last remaining hotel in the village, barely avoiding being witnessed by the hoard of Iwagakure shinobi that flooded the streets towards the ground zero. The person owning the bed and breakfast was a small old man with thinning, grey hair and teeth like rows of corn. The elder expressed his surprise with Kakuzu's presence, stating that due to Kusagakure's bad reputation and current Iwagakure occupation, they no longer received outside guests and no one in Kusagakure could afford to rent a room for even a single night. Due to the lack of customers, he upgraded Kakuzu to their best suite for free. Kakuzu liked free.

The room was on the top floor of the three story building and would be a nightmare for a health inspector. The unsightly pink, striped wallpaper piled off the walls, revealing the termite eaten wood walling beneath and the ceiling weighted heavy with water damage, leaking into a bucket positioned in the corner. The carpet was frayed and crunched beneath Kakuzu's feet and he suspected her was walking on the corpses of thousands of cockroaches hidden beneath. The bed sagged and the white blanketing was spotting with brown that appeared suspicious like old blood. When he shed and his jacket and tossed it on top, the blanketing wheezed and exhaled the stench of old softener. Despite all the negatives, at least it harboured a plentiful view of Kusagakure and all its poverty.

Buildings were decrepit and falling apart at the seams, more people sat the dusty streets than walked them with no one wearing a headband to display their unrivaled pride in this village, and the majority of area was littered with abandoned structures slowly being devoured by the surrounding forest as foliage sprouted from broken windows and rotted roofs. A century ago, Kusagakure had been the superpower of the world and possessed the largest population, rivaled only by Konohagakure. Today, it was hardly larger than a civilian village and in ruins like it had suffered through the Apocalypse. A legacy lost.

Amidst the decay, was a strikingly clean hospital across the street from the hotel, a harsh contrast compared to shady grocer and pawn store seated alongside it. It was larger than a stranded clinic and appeared almost brand new, as though it had only been built a matter of days prior with its untouched white paintjob and intact, shiny windows. Above the entryway was a golden plaque that read 'Kusagakure Hospital'. Kakuzu assumed that had been the hospital Domon spoke of and could understand the man's curiosity into it and his slew of questioning. It was obvious the little government that Kusagakure had left was very interested in keeping it in pristine condition instead of assisting the civilians sleeping on the footpaths and groveling for food or rebuilding their military. From personal opinion, he assumed approximately seven-percent of the villagers could not afford healthcare and such an expensive hospital would not a wise investment.

The next three days, Kakuzu spent observing the clinic and it quickly became apparent that something was off about it besides its perfect appearance. Within the first few hours of his investigation, he counted more than a dozen doctors and nurses entering and exiting the hospital for their morning shifts and lunch hour, far too many for such a tiny facility to contain, even on different shifts. In the evening, when the sun was setting, a hoard of them piled from the doors within an hour and scattered across the village to return to their homes. Kakuzu counted each individual and memorized around thirty different faces. Something was not right indeed.

On the third night, he judged himself to be in better health, the strain in his chest having faded as his two hearts adjusted to supporting each other, and he was eager to leave such a wretched place. The upgrade was free and fee cheap, but he was tired of waking wake each morning to insect friends crawling his pillows and in his hair. His surveillance proved encouraging for an easy job done. He mentally recorded each face and their time window of departure at night, each one leaving near the dot every night and he was able to estimate who remained within the hospital, being only a handful. He could easily stroll in, wrestle the few inside into submission and obtain any documentation of the Mayfly. First however, he would require additional information about the hospital and that opportune moment presented itself only an hour after Kakuzu had checked out.

The rain had finally thinned into a tolerable drizzle but the chilled lingered as Kakuzu huddled in his coat, collar upturned and shades concealing his eyes so passerbyers could not view his face and possibly recognize him from his outstanding bounty, especially the Iwagakure shinobi patrolling the streets. He staked-out in an alleyway of a closed hand-me-down shop that had a decent enough view of the hospital down the street. Doctors and a few nurses departed the building and Kakuzu crossed them off his mental list and until his estimated number of who remained inside was met and no one else left outside that timeline. An hour later, a greying doctor stepped out, but not to leave as he struck a cigarette, rounding the clinic to smoke in peace. That was when Kakuzu acted, crossing the patch of darkened road and hugging the adjacent structures towards the hospital.

He peered around the corner and saw the man propped against the wall, casually smoking his cancer stick and swooped so quickly the other man was unable to exhale, smashing his hand over the man's smoky mouth and dragging him off into a secluded area. The back of the hospital was submerged in a section of unrestrained forest which Kakuzu carried the thrashing doctor through, far enough until he was positive his screams could not be heard through the thick wooding. He tossed the old man against a thick, oak tree, hard enough to daze the doctor as he slumped, wheezing and Kakuzu extended his hand around his throat to keep him upright and to prevent any attempts at a struggle.

"You are going to answer my questions, all of them, and I shall not kill you. Is this understood?" Kakuzu spoke slowly to the petrified man who franticly nodded in agreement. "Perfect. Now, where is the information on the Mayfly?"

"The M-Mayfly? I don't know w-what you mean!"

Kakuzu snorted at the obvious answer and a thread sprouted from his wrist, waving in front of the doctor's bulging, green eyeball. "That is not correct and every time you lie to me, I physically remove something off your person. If you lie to me again, the first thing is your eyes." Kakuzu felt him swallow against his palm. "Now, where is the Mayfly?"

"I-I don't know I swear!"

"Wrong answer," The thread plunged into the man's eyeball through his pupil, end pointed like a syringe and Kakuzu compressed the man's throat with his fist to silence his screaming as the older doctor thrashed and clawed at his assailant's tattooed wrist. The eye was yanked out and deposed of on the forest floor with Kakuzu stomping on it, squishing it beneath his boot like a grape. He relented on the man's jugular and the doctor released a keen sound, trembling with his mouth agape as he inhaled and exhaled sharply, blood pouring from his empty socket as he hovered a shaking hand over it. "I suggest you stop lying to me. I was in the Iwagakure camp when that abomination attacked so I know well that the Mayfly existence and that this is where is originated. Again, where is the Mayfly?"

"T-The Mayfly…" Another thread danced in front of the man's other eye to discourage another lie. "I-It's here! I p-promise!"

"Where?"

"The l-laboratory."

"Where is the laboratory? In the hospital?" Kakuzu asked, patience being stretched thinned already and the thread twitched closer.

"Under the hospital! I-It's under the hospital!" The doctored insisted, compressing himself against the trunk away from the threatening black string. "The h-hospital is just a d-decoy!"

Kakuzu hummed, this new information interesting him. It would explain a lot, like the hospital's existence if it was just built to conceal a secret laboratory beneath. The thread relented and the doctor sighed a little before it was crept closer to prevent such relief. "This laboratory developed the Mayfly?" The man nodded. "Was that one that ambushed Iwagakure the only one?"

"Y-Yes." The answer didn't sit right with Kakuzu as he noted the hesitation in the man's voice occupied by the shutter and averted glance, exposing the clever lie that substantially enraged Kakuzu. Without warning, the thread pierced his other eye with a spurt of blood and the man screamed out before his airway was crushed by Kakuzu's hand, leaving him gasping and twitching as other eye was wrenched out also. Once released, he collapsed to his knees, sobbing while clenching his bleeding face.

"Wrong. Answer. Where is the other Mayfly!?" Kakuzu roared, pulling the man back to his feet and shoving him against the trunk by his bruised throat once again. There was another Mayfly, now he knew for sure, and it was vital he got it, not just for the Akatsuki, but his bank account. A live being with an extinct bloodline would sell well with the Great Nations. Especially after the destructive power he witnessed of just one. The world would be fighting tooth and claw for it. "Tell me or the next thing I take is your tongue."

"K-MF-084..." The man coughed, light-headed and breathless from the constant strangling and heavy blood loss. "Dr. Akiayama…"

"K-MF-084? Dr. Akiayama?"

"Her experiment number…Kiyoshi…he is her doctor." The fading doctor suddenly perked up. "A-Ask him! He-He'll know! I nothing else I promise you! P-Please…"

Kakuzu snorted. He had no time to retrieve this other doctor nor the patience. "How do I access this laboratory? Through the hospital?"

The doctor paused and Kakuzu tightening his chokehold to discourage any attempts of fibbing, making the blind man flinch. "The elevator! There's an emergency elevator that enters the lab."

"Where?" Kakuzu pressed, eager to conclude this prolonged interrogation.

"There's an abandoned warehouse…" The elderly doctor pointing behind himself in the general location it might be. "It's in there... Now please…I know nothing else. Please!"

Kakuzu regarded the man's pleading and released his throat. "Very well. But I shall have your heart."

"What!?" The doctor yelped, staring upward towards Kakuzu with the bleeding craters in his skull. "You said you wouldn't kill me if I told you everything!"

"I did." Kakuzu freely agreed. "But I hold no respect for a man that betrays his own." With that, he thrusted his gloved hand through the older man's chest, yanking out his beating heart and snapping the arteries that stretched from within his caved ribcage. The doctor gasped, releasing a wet gurgle as blood and bile rived from his lips before collapsing to the ground, twitching in an expanding pool of blood.

Analyzing the dying heart, Kakuzu grumbled at its poor quality but at the moment, beggars could not be choosers as it would only be a temporary fix until he found a more worthy heart to replace it. He had no one to blame but himself, he had become so cocky with this new jutsu in the few years he had possessed it which caused him to dramatically underestimated the Mayfly and in return, he had had paid dearly for it. It would not happen again.

A wall of threads extended from beneath his collar and swallowed the organ, transferring it to the empty slot in his back and linking it to his other two hearts. Once the heart was successfully installed, Kakuzu trembled for a series of seconds at the rush of new charka circulating through his body, engulfing him in a feverish heat and sense of disorientating light-headedness before slowly fading away. He coughed and inhaled deeply, noting the weight on his lungs had lifted and clasped his chest where could feel three different rhythms of beating against his hand. He felt revived and was deathly curious how five hearts would function. Before, when he had interrogated the new hearts, obtaining four hearts had nearly killed him which is why had been depending on only three this entire time, but he had been crippled and sickly then, now he was stronger and had no reason to doubt he could handle those extra hearts. This process was encouraging, but now, he had the Mayfly to be concerned about and he was more than ready to conclude this mission.

He carelessly kicked the doctor's corpse aside, leaving for the local wildlife to feast upon and walked through the shadowy thicket, searching for the elusive warehouse the old man had spoken of as a means to access this secret laboratory that contained the Mayfly. After several of minutes of walking and looking, he noticed a leery structure in the distance, nearly unnoticeable due to the layers of moss and foliage that concealed it and its wooden frame being easily mistaken for splintered timber. He approached the warehouse, keeping an ear out for anyone that might be lurking about, probably security of said secret elevator, and rounded the building before discovering the entrance that was draped with hanging vine. It appeared recently infiltrated, as the vine growing downwards over the opening had been torn away and the doorframe was smeared with a dark substance that was assumed blood. Blood was also splashed on the concrete flooring and formed an arcing pathway between the overturned tables and stained the shattered glass bottles littering the ground, indicting its freshness as this packaging plant appeared to have been left several years ago.

Kakuzu followed the trail, holding his nose from the stench of rotted food that was contained in trash bags dumped in corners and trampled on the ground. Through the darkness, Kakuzu could perceive the blood take a sharp turn towards an unsuspecting closet which had its door ajar, the silver knob painted red. Inside the closet was a set of rickety stairs that led downwards into a cramped basement and within, Kakuzu found the elevator, its clean, metal door almost glowing in the black. The control panel only contained one lit button that was wiped with more blood and Kakuzu jabbed it with his thumb. The elevator gave a happy ding and a screen above the doors flickered on that read 'Call Elev.' before a loud chugging was heard and made the thin flooring beneath Kakuzu's feet tremble as the box approached from below.

After a few seconds, the ungodly noise stopped and the ding rang out again as the doors slid open into a solid, metal room that could fit a few people comfortably at most. The floor was sticky with a large pool of blood that stuck to Kakuzu's boots as he stepped in it and made his stomach curdle at the overwhelming smell of iron and rot. There was four buttons on the inside, a blank one, two with arrows indicting the closing and opening of the doors and an unmarked one and another with an exclamation mark engraved in it that obviously advised him not to touch it, so he pressed the blank button. The doors closed and the room abruptly began dropping down, making him grasp the railing to prevent himself from toppling over from the unsteady ride as it rapidly descended. Within seconds, it slowed but not enough as it slammed to a halt, making Kakuzu hit his elbows on the steel walling behind him and swear as his funny bones vibrated with acute pain. Suddenly, two lights began to flash red, flooding the elevator with a blinking, red glow that made his head throb and the monitor above the doors read 'Clear. Need'.

"Clearance needed? Fuck that." Kakuzu pressed the button with the two arrows pointing outwards to open the doors but it did not work. He clicked it again and again, even punching the warning button with no further results except the message atop changing to 'Assist. Call' which made him scowl. "Fucking hell." He couldn't just stay here forever and he wasn't about to sit around until someone came along to let him out, that was for damned sure. He would let himself out.

There was a thin breach where the two elevator doors met together and Kakuzu scarped at it with his fingers, managing to secure a millimeter grasp on each door and with a hint of strength, slowly pried them apart with the doors resisting with a spine-chilling screeching as they grinded against the tracks. Once a large enough opening was secured, Kakuzu stepped outside and released his grasp off the struggling doors, causing them slam closed behind with a squeal. Kakuzu dusted his hands and glanced around, evaluating his surroundings to discover he was now standing in a hallway that was drenched in red from the lights beaming above the elevator. The hallway was short before ending with a windowed door and card reader and possessed a pair of doors at both ends of the hall with an elongated window between to his left with a sign beside each that read 'Infirmary'. It was a start.

Approaching the nearest door, he fiddled with the knob, finding it to be unlocked as he stepped inside the clinic which was illuminated by the flashing lights in the hallway. Inside, there were two rows of beds on each side and tucked away in a few were children, their sleeping faces bathed in the mix of coloured lighting from the emergency alarms outside and the machinery at their bedside. Kakuzu stepped around between the beds, analyzing each child and the identification number that was printed on a sheet of paper hanging at the foot of their bed, each beginning with K-MF and ending with a number. K-MF-084; that had been the number the doctor had given him of this 'Mayfly Girl' and if she did indeed exist, he was already on the right track of finding her.

The numbers were random, having no particular order and Kakuzu read each sign, careful not to awaken the children as he progressed through. Finally, towards the other end of the clinic, he found the elusive 'K-MF-084'. Unfortunately, the bed was empty and hadn't appeared to have been slept in anytime recent as it had been neatly made and lacked any drabbled notes like the other children. Kakuzu swore beneath his breath and slammed his fist onto the mattress to muffle the blow. This 'Mayfly Girl' was either in another location, dead or the quack had lied to him and he foolishly believed him. Optimism told him this girl was alive and merely in another location to be found, but reality said she was long dead. Regardless, he had infiltrated the laboratory and if this live specimen was deceased or removed, the evidence of the Mayfly was certainly here and it was just the matter of finding it instead. He was on a time limit however, so he would have to find it fast and quietly exit without witnesses and more bodies.

He exited the infirmary through the second door and inspected the door leaving the wing, leering at the card reader beside it that was the means of unlocking said door. He had always distasted technology, he himself being a relic of simpler times. It was crude and complicated but, it was also laughably weak in design as evident when Kakuzu delivered a powerful punch against the device, shattering into shards of plastic and wiring and causing the door to malfunction and unlock itself. The man smirked with a snort as he allowed himself out, only to take a few steps outside and freeze as he perceived an open room a few feet before him with its light on inside. He had never expected to be alone in such an area of unknown so now was the matter of dispatching whoever with inside without them shouting for help to anyone else in the laboratory currently.

Kakuzu stepped softly towards the room, hugging against the hallway wall but paused when he stood alongside the doorframe and heard…snoring? He listened hard, ensuring it wasn't his senile mind playing tricks on him only to confirm it was not when the sound repeated itself. He leant around the corner, glancing inside to see an obese man, clad in a blue, security uniform and reclined in an office chair with his hands folded on his protruding belly, unsoundly asleep. The sleeping guard was the only person in the small room and Kakuzu but did not relent on his stealth as he debated about dispatching the slumbering man to prevent him from jarring awake. He crouched through the short doorway and outstretched his hand, summoning a legion of threads from his wrist that hovered around the oblivious man, aiming themselves towards vital artistries that would ensure an easy death by means of blood loss. However, Kakuzu's malicious intentions were disturbed by the startled exclamation behind him.

"W-Who are you!?"


	12. Arc 1: Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiyoshi runs into Kakuzu and Zetsu's fate is decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Low), Genderbend (Mid), Violence/Gore/Death (High)

**Wasteland**

**Act 1:**

**Chapter 11**

A million thoughts are rushing through Kiyoshi's head as he starred at the dark, unwelcomed guest at the end of the floor, clasping Zetsu protectively close.

Who was this man? How did he get into the laboratory? When he had he? How long had had he been here? Had Tarou sent him? Had the Council sent him? Was he the one the Council had sent to retrieve Zetsu? If so, why was he here so early and why arrive during the night when no one was around? Only one of these questions were answered, when Kiyoshi witnessed the blaring of the emergency lights through the ajar door of the Infirmary wing, indicting the man had broken in through the emergency elevator but that only rose a whole new slew of questioning that made his scrambling mind spin.

Kakuzu reared up from the doorway, threads retracting back into his striped wrist as he faced the person that had yelled at him, analyzing him from behind his shades. The lanky man was a doctor or scientist with a head of curly, blonde hair and blue eyes that stared at him over the rim of silver glasses. It would appear the man had somewhere to go as he carried two pieces of heavy luggage and he had unintentionally interrupted him. Immediately, Kakuzu's attention was drawn to the child cradled against the quack's chest that was bundled in a white coat.

Wouldn't it be ironic if he was searching for a specific experiment and given a specific name of a doctor that cared for said experiment and both had just presented themselves before him? Kakuzu had never been one to believe in divine invention, but today, he was willing to do it just this once.

"Are you Akiayama Kiyoshi?" Kiyoshi gasped at the stranger's question, gaping jaw quivering as his eyes widened. How did he know his name!? Kiyoshi did not reply, could not reply as his voice was frozen in his voice box but the man's petrified expression was answer enough for Kakuzu. The Gods were generous for once in his extended lifetime. "Where is K-MF-084?"

Kiyoshi was nearly in tears as he trembled. He knew about Zetsu also? Who was this man and who had hired him? It had to be Tarou. The man knew Kiyoshi wasn't laying down and allowing the Council to take away K-MF-084 so he hired someone to intercept him and prevent any attempts of a rescue. It had to be. That bastard!

Again there was no answer but none was needed for Kakuzu from the man's reaction alone. This man was Akiayama Kiyoshi and the child he carried was K-MF-084. Gods be praised. The miser stepped towards Kiyoshi, awaiting hand outstretched. "Hand over the girl, doctor, and I shall spare your life."

Kiyoshi stumbled back, fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he hugged Zetsu closer, the sleeping girl cuddling closer, blissfully aware of the dire circumstances that were playing out over her life. Kakuzu's brow furrowed and his nose wrinkled, fingers curling into a fist as threads sprouted from his wrist from the silent rejection. "Very well, then I shall take both her, and your life."

Kakuzu advanced towards Kiyoshi, threads dancing from his collar and sleeves and the thundering of his boots against the metal flooring echoed the frantic thumping of Kiyoshi's heart as he searched for a desperate escape. Ducking into the nearby maze of cubicles or conference room were not ideal as the tanned man could easily corner him and he couldn't dodge past him towards the emergency elevator. Behind him was the elevator that led to the hospital which seemed his only opinion. He dumped off the heavy luggage of paperwork to avoid being weighed down by it, judging he could risk leaving given the situation, and turned, fleeing towards the elevator with just the emergency supplies. Suddenly, within inches of the doors, something grasped tightly onto his hair and he was wretched backwards into the air, soaring several feet before crashing to the floor, leaving him dazed and gasping for breath as he landed hard on his back.

Kakuzu's hand reconnected to his wrist as he faced the doctor behind him, reaching down to yank away the girl still clenched in his arms. Kiyoshi rejected the dizziness plaguing him as he shoved away from the man, flipping over to his hands and knees and scrambling to his feet as he stumbled away towards the Infirmary wing. Kakuzu hooked the doctor's legs with his foot, causing Kiyoshi to tumble to the ground and Zetsu to slide from his grip, the girl awakening with a yelp as she rolled across the floor and into a nearby wall. Kiyoshi shoved himself up to stand but Kakuzu grounded him as he stomped onto the back of his knees, the fragile caps exploding upon contact and Kiyoshi screamed as hot pain flooded his senses. Kakuzu set his foot on his lower back and applied pressure, snapping the man's pelvis in two to ensure no means of escape and Kiyoshi released a keen wail, clawing at the iron flooring until his nails broke off and left bloody streaks.

"I warned you, doctor, and you chose poorly." Kakuzu remarked, forcefully bringing his foot down onto his ankles next and Kiyoshi yelled out as they were shattered into dust, tears rivering down his face as paralyzing agony engulfed his entire lower half.

Zetsu recovered from her jarring impact and stared at Kiyoshi, caramel orbs welling with tears as she watched Kakuzu continually stomp onto her caretaker's legs, her ears ringing from the sound of breaking bones and his screaming. "Ki….Ki…" She whimpered.

Kakuzu relented on the blonde's legs when the bones no longer crunched beneath his boots and leant down, rolling the fading man onto his back by his throat as he hovered his hand above his heaving chest. "The girl is mine, as is your heart." He told Kiyoshi and reared his arm back for the finishing blow. Kiyoshi's eyes rolled back into his head as his air passage was constricted and picked at Kakuzu's fingers to relieve the suffocating pressure.

However, after a few seconds, the hand had yet to be punched through his chest so Kiyoshi reopened his eyes and saw the man rooted in the position, his arm having been prevented in its deadly objective and Kiyoshi's eyes widened at who had done it. Kakuzu grunted, nose crinkled as a sharp pain throbbed in his hand and the distinct dripping of blood could be heard. His eyes shifted in their bloodshot sockets towards his suspended arm to discover the Mayfly Girl hanging from it and his gloved hand compressed between her impressive jowls, her hooked canines buried so deeply in his skin that it caressed bone. The girl snarled deeply in her throat, mimicking a beast twice her size as her large, golden orbs fearlessly challenging Kakuzu's opposing emerald through the darkness of his glasses, flickering with that animalistic bloodlust he recalled witnessing in the Mayfly Man. Kakuzu retained the burning eye contact with the girl before abruptly swinging his arm back, easily tossing the teenager off and sending her through the windowed wall of the meeting room. The window broke apart into a cascade of glass that showered her as her body collided with the conference table and slumped to the floor. Kakuzu investigated his hand, staring at the deep, bleeding cavities in distaste and released Kiyoshi's throat as he removed his torn glove, his threads making quick work of sewing the bite wounds closed. Another scar for his expanding collection. He would have to remember to apply antibacterial to the injury to ward off whatever infectious germs she might possess due to the Mayfly.

"Zet…su." Kiyoshi wheezed as he stared at the unconscious girl, making a feeble attempt to sit up but Kakuzu downed him again as he stomped onto his abdomen and Kiyoshi coughed a mouthful of blood as his ribs snapped like twigs.

Kakuzu carelessly walked atop Kiyoshi as he stepped through the broken window of the conference room, leaning over the unconscious brat. He grasped the back of her coat to lift her but her tiny body slipped free of the cloak and she tumbled back to the ground, her hospital gown beneath being revealed in the process. Stitched across the back of her shoulders was the identification number of 'K-MF-084'. Kakuzu smirked. There was not a doubt. The Mayfly belonged to him now. Kakuzu yanked the girl up by her greasy hair and tossed her limp form over his shoulder before exiting the room. As he did, he felt something tug at his pant leg and gazed down to see Kiyoshi, the blonde having managed to conjure together enough strength to drag himself to the mercenary.

The doctor stared up at Kakuzu, ocean-blue eyes hazy with tears and lips trembling as he spoke. "Please…please don't take her…please don't…hurt her…"

Kakuzu snorted, callously ignoring the man's heartfelt pleading and delivered a harsh kick to his face, breaking his glasses and jaw and rendering him unconscious as his face struck the floor, blood pooling from his nose and mouth. Kakuzu walked across the motionless doctor, hearing his spine crack unnaturally beneath his boots, and towards the discarded bags.

Kakuzu leant down and unzipped the luggage to uncover the contents within. Inside the duffle bag were swollen folders and files, marked with random dates and the girl's experiment number and Kiyoshi's name. Immediately, a clipboard atop the paperwork listing dates and procedures referenced K-MF-084 and her Mayfly, completely confirming the identity of the Mayfly Girl for Kakuzu. In the other bag were clothing, toys and medical supplies which he took no interest in and left behind. As he made headway back towards his point of entrance to depart, he gave mind to the doctor that was on the floor, slowly bleeding out through his nose from his broken skull. He decided to generously spare the man's pathetic life as he walked back towards the elevator he had entered through before, the unconscious Mayfly Girl and evidence of the Mayfly in hand. He did not want ownership of such a bleeding heart anyway.

The red lights blinked on as he returned to the elevator and pried open the locked doors again which resisted to the best of their ability against the intrusion. Once inside, he "pursued" the elevator to move again with a well-aimed drive of his steel toe into the control panel, caving in the buttons and causing them to spark. A few more kicks and the elevator suddenly screeched, the lights and screen switching off temporarily before turning on a few seconds later, the glaring message on the above screen gone. The elevator groaned and shuttered before suddenly ascending upwards at a nauseating pace. Once the elevator reached its destination, the doors chugged open and Kakuzu was barely able to step through them when they slammed closed, nearly clamping onto his leg in the process, and the unstable elevator squealed and screeched back downwards again like a ride in a horror attraction.

The reliving dribble of rain that intensified once again as cascading water ricocheted off the tin roof of the plant with the weight of hail. Kakuzu fastened his coat closed and tucked the bag of important documentary beneath his arm to protect it from water damage. The Mayfly Girl remained limply draped across his shoulder, he caring little if she was soaked to the bone and got a chill, as he departed into the ravaging storm to finally exit this living wasteland that was Kusagakure.

…

Ayana was understandable worried, as she safely stood within the warmth of her home, viewing the rain fall between the branches of the dark foresting outside her front window and awaiting Kiyoshi to arrive with K-MF-084.

It had been an hour and half with no sign of either and she wondered if the worse had occurred and something had happened. Had Tarou returned prematurely and caught Kiyoshi attempting to leave with 084? Or Ryouta? Perhaps Toshi had actually done something for once in his career? The lingering storm had resumed its battering of Kusagakure with ice cold rain and howling winds that made her home creak and shutter. Perhaps the storm had hindered them? Whatever it was, she couldn't swallow down the insecurity that weighed heavy in her stomach as she anxiously watched each minute tick by on the godfather clock, waiting for either a miracle or disaster to unfold. A miracle she prayed.

When the hour nearly chimed, she acknowledged the hard truth. Kiyoshi was not arriving and something had happened to him back at the laboratory in his attempt to escape with 084. She steeled herself to the possibilities as she shouldered her knapsack and closed down her departed parents' home she would be abandoning in her pursuit to protect Kiyoshi's cherished experiment. She questioned if she should possess a concealed weapon when she reentered the laboratories, given the unknown circumstances and level of desperation of the situation. Even a pacifist as herself wouldn't hold herself back if Kiyoshi or 084 was in danger and she certainly couldn't pass up the opportunity to stab Tarou if he was the result of this all. That fat bastard was begging to have that smug smirk of his carved off his flabby face since the moment he stepped in on the project and bastardized it.

As she drew together the golden, black-out curtains to the front window to cast out the storm, the interior light flooding from the window illuminated a distorted figure shifting between the trees that caught her eye. At first, she questioned it had just been the wind and branches flailing about to cast the eerie silhouette. However, the shadow did waver to match such a method as it steadily stretched upward upon the surrounding trunks like a crawling hand, slowly taking a familiar shape. It was the shape of a person. Immediately, Ayana's heart soared and the dark clenches of doubt vanished. It was Kiyoshi and 084. She should have known better than to think the worse. Kiyoshi was resourceful and clever, even Tarou could not stop him once he set his mind to something. Collecting the proper filing and K-MF-084 simply must have taken longer than originally anticipated. It had been foolish of her to ever worry.

Hastily, she scooped up her overstuffed suitcases and umbrella and rushed towards the front door, flicking off the lights behind her. Once outside, she fumbled with her umbrella while simultaneously jogging towards the approaching figure, using her arm to shield herself from the sheets of rain. The person wedged themselves from between the trees and Ayana skidded to a halt, greeting frozen on her tongue when realizing instantly this shadowy figure was not Kiyoshi. The shuffling person stood twice the doctor's height, even taller than the average person, and was camouflaged in entirely black wardrobe that made them appear like walking shade. Her heart fluttered to the bottom of her stomach. It was not Kiyoshi.

The shambling stranger paid no heed to Ayana as they approached to pass her by and Ayana had no interest in conversing with such an uncomfortable being or remain out in the storm as she turned away to retreat from both to the safety of her home once more. Disappointed, she walked back to her front door, shutting and locking the door behind her so she did not receive any unwelcomed guests and dumped her baggage aside. She flipped on the lights and slumped against the sill of the main floor bay window, resuming her seemingly fruitless watch for Kiyoshi and K-MF-084. The interior light penetrated through the glass and casted a lit pathway outside, capturing the passerbyer in its shine. They paused in their step and turned to face the bright window as though offended, causing a shiver to course through Ayana's spine at the sight of the massive, dark-skinned man whose burning stare she felt through the obscurity of his sunglasses. His dark choice of clothing and masked face made her paranoia worsen as she questioned if she should now fear being robbed or potently worse if she left the security of her house, or even within, as she considered that kitchen knife even more now.

Finally, the man turned his head away after an uncomfortable chain of long seconds and shrugged his shoulder, adjusting something that was slung upon it. Ayana peered at it and felt her blood freeze in her veins as realized the white object frightingly resembled a human body as she swore she perceived it possessing a pair of dangling, naked legs. She conjured it to her stressed mind playing tricks on her. Very sick tricks.

The guest departed again as he trudged through the mud towards the treeline alongside her home and disappear forever, much to Ayana's relief as she watched him to ensure his leave before she dared unlock her door or step outside again. Hopefully, Kiyoshi arrived soon so at least she had some protection, even if the man was as frail as a twig. Overhead, the clouds exploded with lightning, making them glow and briefly shower the below Woodlands with light that lasted only a brief second before the country was swallowed by the darkness of the storm once more. In that second, Ayana made a horrifying realization as the object on the man's shoulder was fully illuminated. First, it _was_ body. A small body, too small to be an adult but too large to be a child. Second, the hair colour. It was green like the leaves on the surrounding trees and long like tangled thorns. She only knew one person with green hair and lastly, the body was dressed in a white gown with black stenciling across the shoulders that though she could not make it out before the light dissipated, something deep inside her knew exactly what it said. It was the paranoia and anxiety, they were showing her things that did not exist and what her mind feared most, and it had worked, because before she realized it, her legs were darting her towards the door as her hands fumbled with the lock in a blind panic. She had to prove her delusional mind wrong.

She threw open the door and stumbled outside into the soaking rain, catching a fleeting glimpse of the man vanishing behind the side of her cabin home. She scrambled after, nearly losing her footing in the slick mud and came to a halt behind him, far enough he did not see her, but close enough she could view body more closely. Even in the night, the dark printing contrasted sharply against the white fabric and while the upside-down the lettering was hard to decipher, there was no mistaking the numbering which composed half of the phase. It was 084, it was K-MF-084. Oh god…the worse had happened.

"Zetsu!" She screamed the girl's name and rushed at the man, who had stopped from her yell and craned his head toward the frantic woman. "What are you doing with her!?" She demanded, the hot tears flooding from her eyes warming her chilled face as she reached toward the unconscious girl to wrench her off the man's shoulder. "What are yo-"

Ayana's shouting was cut short and the million thoughts racing through her mind crashed into a heap of unanswered questions before everything went blank when the man's elbow collided with the side of her head, too quickly for her eyes or brain to register. A loud cracking emitted from her skull from the contact and she was propelled from the force, soaring several feet before her body made impact with a nearby tree, the sound of breaking bones echoing like thunder. The woman slumped bonelessly to the ground, blood pouring from her nose and gaping mouth as her empty eyes stared blankly forward.

Kakuzu flexed his arm, his elbow cracking back into place and throbbing dully from the woman's skull. He glanced back at her unconscious form, perceiving the blood streaming from her broken skull before snorting and proceeding on with his exit of the country.

Hopefully, no one else interfered with his mission. He did not like leaving a trail of bodies. It was such a waste of money.

…

"What is the occasion, Ryouta? You look dressed for a funeral." Ryouta smiled weakly as his two female coworkers playfully teased him as they walked together through the main hallway towards the employee's lobby, their footfalls echoing on the tile throughout the empty rooms lining the hall. It was the early mornings so not many people had yet reported for work and the lack of patients made the hospital possess an eerie silence. This morning, however, something nagged at Ryouta which he could not quite shake. The quiet made his ears ring and fresh smell of blench burned his nostrils.

"A representative of the Council is arriving today to retrieve K-MF-084. Apparently, she wishes to meet Kiyoshi and I, so I thought I'd dress nicely." Ryouta explained, adjusting his tie which matched his sharp, black suit which he had spent the night ironing. Usually, it was meant for the rare funeral or wedding. It felt oddly appropriate for today.

"Well, you clean up very nicely." The two nurses erupted into a fit of giggling and Ryouta blushed faintly, bowing his head so the two woman did not see his pink cheeks as he clicked the button to call the elevator. Once it arrived, he politely allowed them to board first before stepping on himself and selecting the button for the underground laboratory. The doors chugged closed and the elevator shuttered as it smoothly glided down several floors below. During the ride, Ryouta adjusted himself in the reflection of the control panel as he tightened the knot his dark hair was tied in and checked his freshly shavened face for any blemishes.

"Stop fretting, Ryouta-kun," One of the women said, her name Ryouta could not recall. Honestly, all the women which worked the laboratory or hospital blended together with their copy-and-paste personalities and appearances. Ayana was the only exception. "You look perfect." It wasn't his appearance that nerved Ryouta, it was something he could not place his finger on and continued to fiddle with his hair to curb the discomfort.

"He said the Council sent a female representative," The other woman whispered, none too subtly as it was in clear earshot of Ryouta. "I bet he's trying to impress her." The elevator slowed to a halt and the opened slid open with a cheerful beep as the woman stepped out first.

"Oh don't be s-" The nurse's sentence was disrupted by a bloodcurdling scream from her friend which she responded with her own.

Ryouta's head jolted up and he shoved past the two women, bewildered what they were screeching about when he saw it. Several feet in front of them in the middle of the wide corridor was a human body, the white laboratory coat they were dress in discoloured red from the blood it swam it. The two woman huddled together, whimpering as Ryouta rushed forward to check the injuried person. As he approached, it quickly became apparent who is was by their head of blonde curls that no one else in the laboratory possessed.

"Kiyoshi!" Ryouta hissed as he crouched next to the man who laid face down in his own blood. One of the nurses recovered from her shock and ran over to assist Ryouta who fumed at her. "What the hell are you doing!? Get a fucking gurney!" The woman sat stunned for a moment from the man's snarl before scrambling to her feet and running to the surgery bay to fulfil the request while her friend made haste to the nearest emergency station for a first aid. Focusing his attention back to the dead or dying Kiyoshi, Ryouta probed for his pulse on his neck when the doctor stirred, causing the brunette to yank away his hand.

"Ryouta…" Kiyoshi moaned through his broken jaw, blood and saliva leaking from the empty gap between his teeth. He weakly lifted his head, the blood that stuck between his face and the floor piled from his skin like a scab. If it hadn't been for the blonde's trademark curls, Ryouta would have never identified him as his face had been battered beyond recognition, an ugly mass of black and red with his eyeglasses dangling broken on his crooked nose, the shattered lens embedded in one his eyes. "Ryouta…?"

"I'm here, Kiyoshi. I'm here." Ryouta reinsured his mutilated colleague, glancing around as he observed the scene, noting the dissected bags nearby and shattered glass of the conference room. "Fucking hell, what happened here, Kiyoshi?"

"He…he took her…he took Zetsu…" The doctor slurred.

The nurse which had retreated for a first aid returned, jogging to Ryouta and handing him the red bag the supplies were stored inside before leaving to assist her friend in wheeling the gurney. Quickly, he dumped out the contents and searched through for gauze to absorb the visible bleeding from the man's face, tearing open the package and pressing it gently against the man's scalp. The bandage was swallowed by blood in seconds. There was blood everywhere, it was a miracle the man was conscious, let alone alive. There was no knowing of the fully extent of his injuries. Kiyoshi would require emergency surgery if he were to survive.

"Who…? Who took who?" Ryouta asked absent-mindingly, more focused on sopping up more blood from the man's fractured skull with the remaining gauze. The overwhelming smell of wet iron made his head teeter worse. "God, where is that fucking gurney!?"

"K-MF-084…A man…A…man…Tarou…"

"Tarou?" A crowd was beginning to form as a few more doctors and nurses arrived for their daily duty, gathering around to witness the gruesome scene with startled gasps and shocked exclamations.

"Tarou…" Kiyoshi heaved a cough, clotted blood spurting from his broken nose. "Tarou…did it. He…stole K-MF-084…"

"K-MF-84 has been taken?"

Ryouta flinched at the question and spun around, seeing his stubby boss standing behind him among the crowd, the other doctors rearing back in surprise also. Tarou's grey orbs scanned over Kiyoshi, his fat face betraying not the slightest bit of shock or concern giving the bloody crime scene he had just walked in on he stood with his hands casually tucked in the pockets of his dark trousers. It made a shiver roll down Ryouta's spine from the man's cold, detached demeanor.

"Who did this to you, Kiyoshi?" Tarou asked, his voice stoic as though he was carrying out a nonchalant conversation with the doctor. "What has happened to K-MF-084?"

"Tarou...!" Kiyoshi snarled, blood caught in his throat made the man's name escape as a gurgle. "You…you did this!"

"Kiyoshi, relax!" Ryouta scolded, gingerly restraining the man as he attempted in vain to shove himself up. The nurses finally arrived with the gurney, much to Ryouta's overwhelming relief and the two women assisted him with carefully lifting Kiyoshi's dead weight from the strained floor to load him onto the wheeled bed.

"No, leave him." Tarou interrupted, waddling from the wall of gapping onlookers, face portraying an amused smirk. "I want to hear this. Kiyoshi, please, go on."

"Tarou-sama, please." Ryouta pled, struggling to uphold Kiyoshi when the women obediently backed away without question and he balanced the blonde against his chest, feeling the fabric of his suit grow wet with sickly, warm blood.

"Tarou." Kiyoshi wheezed, slumping his head against his shoulder so he could stare daggers at Tarou with his remaining eye. "You…hired that…monster…to take Zetsu from me! You…did… _all of this!"_

"Monster? I honestly do not know what you're talking about, Kiyoshi." Tarou said, exasperated, and shook his head, cheeks flapping like a bloodhound. "Do you honestly think I would hire someone to take your little experiment when she is set to be taken today by the Council? How do I know _you_ didn't hire this supposed monster? Afterall, it was obvious you didn't intend to allow her to be taken quietly." Tarou concluded, referencing the discarded luggage strewn about.

"Why…why would I… _hire someone to do this…?"_

"A desperate man is capable of anything, Kiyoshi-kun." Tarou retorted and Ryouta narrowed his eyes at his boss. How could this man honestly believe that Kiyoshi would hire someone, not only to take K-MF-084, but cripple him in the progress? It was insane and obvious how desperately he wanted evidence to use Kiyoshi as a scapegoat when the Council representative arrived. Ryouta was unsure if Tarou did indeed have involve in this entire incident, but he did not put it past the old pig.

"I would ne-"

"Someone help us!" Everyone turned around at the scream to discover two doctors standing in the mouth of the hospital elevator, hoisting a bloody body between them. It was Ayana.

"Ayana." Ryouta breathed, the gasp drowned out by the chorus of female sobbing and flurry of frantic questioning the audience of doctors exchanged with the sudden arrival of yet another beaten employee. Even through the ringing in his ears, Kiyoshi overheard the women's name and his dying heart hit the ground. Oh god… _Ayana, too?_

"Oh pity, what has happened to Ayana-chan?" Tarou gasped, it audibly faked to those within earshot.

"We were passing by…her house when we noticed the lights on…but the door was wide open…" One of the doctors panted. "We called to her with no response…"

"Then we noticed her slumped against a tree. It looks like she was attacked." The other doctor finished, gesturing toward the woman's hung head, her black locks painted red with matted blood. "She has a severe concussion, possibly a fractured skull. She needs surgery now!" A few of the doctors broke from the stunned crowd, ordering their nurse counterparts to prepare for the emergency surgery while assisting their co-workers with heaving the woman's lifeless body towards the surgery bay. As they passed, Kiyoshi caught a glimpse of her mangled form and choked on a sob, spitting up some blood and one of his teeth was dislodged with the tidal. Tarou had successfully destroyed everything he loved. _He destroyed everything!_

With the little strength he possessed, Kiyoshi lunged away from Ryouta towards Tarou, the brunette man to stumbling with his shoes sliding in the blood pooled upon the ground and causing him to tumble to the floor. However, it was then in his pain-riddled intoxication, Kiyoshi realized that everything below his shoulders was disturbingly numb when he tried to carry himself toward his loathed boss and crashed painfully to the ground shortly after, hot tears bubbling in his punctured eye. Not only had Zetsu been stolen from him by that man, but possibly his ability to walk also, and that only fueled his rage toward Tarou and poisoned his tongue farther.

Kiyoshi heaved his shattered body across the ground with his arms towards Tarou, gritting his broken jaw. "Tarou! You…you took…everything I had…" He stretched out his twitching hand and groped at Tarou's ironed pantleg, causing the superior's trademark smirk was wiped from his greasy face and replaced dark frown when Kiyoshi tore at the clean fabric with his uprooted nails. "How dare... _dare you hurt Ayana and Zetsu. You basta-!"_

Five thuds rang out, the startling sound resonating off the metallic walls of the laboratory. Everyone stood in stunned silence with their gaping faces frozen, the events having transpired too quickly for their minds to process as they stared. Ryouta sat up and inhaled sharply through his nose, his nostrils burning with the scent of gunpowder which poisoned the air as he stared at Kiyoshi, his eyes flickering between the metallic bolts now embedded deeply in his back, before his eyes were drawn up towards the smoking barrel of Tarou's golden crossbow. Kiyoshi twitched violently, a fresh surge of blood rushing from his nose before he released a wheeze and his blue orbs rolled back in his head.

Tarou snorted, his grey orbs narrowing at Kiyoshi. "I do not take kindly to being accused of crimes I did not commit." He withdrew his weapon, glancing it over before his smirk returned. "This new prototype is beautiful. I'll have to get you another tune up soon, darling." He cooed to his beloved crossbow before sheathing it on his belt. Overcoming his dumbfoundment, Ryouta scrambled to Kiyoshi, checking the spurting bullet wounds which were riddled unnervingly close to the doctor's spine.

"Don't worry, I did not hit anything vital," Tarou reinsured Ryouta, eerily unfazed with the brutally he had just displayed as his hands returned to his pockets. "He'll live."

Ryouta stared upwards at Ryouta, his forest eyes catching ablaze and his jaw quivering as he ground his teeth and nostrils flared. He balled his fists until his nails dug into his palms and blood sprung from the crescent-shaped indents they made. He had always known Tarou was a bloodthirsty man, taking joy when K-MF-001 viciously tore into a fresh human body or read about the latest massacre of the war in the paper, but never did he think him capable of attacking one of his own, especially a man which had been on the edge of death already. His enraged thoughts of attacking the pig, the opportune being perfect as he was out of ammo, but were interrupted when one of the nurses jarred him.

"We have to get him to surgery now!" She whispered with tears flowing from her bloodshot eyes, thoroughly upset.

She was right, Ryouta realized, as he tore his eyes from Tarou and assisted the two nurses in hauling Kiyoshi's unconscious form onto the gurney, this time without disruption. He tossed another glare in Tarou's direction before the three of them rushed the bed towards the surgical bay for another emergency surgery. Once the doctors were gone, Tarou turned towards the disturbed crowd of employees who backed away in unison, huddled together like a frightened herd of deer surrounded by a pack of wolves.

"Alright, disperse. If you want to see your next paycheck, then I suggest you all get to work." He spoke. Misinterpreting their blood-hungry boss's words, everyone scattered to their respective stations without a moment's hesitation or suffer die consequences like Kiyoshi had. Once everyone was gone, Tarou smoothed out his black silk tie and looked around. "Now then, where is Toshi?"

After a bit of searching, which involved merely walking to the guard's office, he found Toshi slumped in his chair with his head hung over the back of the chair and mouth agape. First, he wondered if the man had been attacked also and required medical assistance, but that question was swiftly answered when the overweight man released a thundering snore.

"Toshi." Tarou barked with no reaction. "Toshi!"

Toshi jerked awake with a snort at the yell and his hand instantly went for his shock baton, nearly zapping the presumed intruder until he recognized the bulldog face of his employer.

"Tarou-sama, I'm so sorry!" Toshi blurted, replacing the fizzling rod on his belt.

"Toshi, have you been asleep all night?" Tarou asked, tone stern.

Toshi hesitated. "Well I…not all night. I must've dozed off for a few hours at most…"

"Is that so? Then why did you not attempt to prevent K-MF-084's abduction?"

Toshi gasped. "A-Abduction?"

Tarou sighed, it was painfully obvious the guard had lied and had actually been asleep the entire night and rather deeply at that if he had not heard any of the commotion. "Were the cameras active at least?"

"Y-Yes!" Toshi hunched over to the stacks of tape players which were smuggled beneath his desk and his fat sausage fingers hastily worked at the buttons to reverse each tape to the prior night. Once each timer clocked a few hours before midnight, he jabbed play and two men quietly observed the bewildering series of events which had taken place.

It began with a rather suspicious meeting between Kiyoshi and Ayana, making it perfectly clear that the nurse had been involved with her counterpart's scheming. How exactly Tarou was unsure. After the woman left, Kiyoshi made an unexpected visit to Toshi, not once but three times with refreshments and after the last visit, the doctor had a bright red card in hand and entered the basement elevator he normally had no access to.

Tarou sniffed. "Toshi, where is your clearance card?"

"Err…it's in my pocket, sir. Right…" Toshi heaved his wide frame from his chair and reached behind to his back pocket, only discover it void when he poked his fingers inside. "Wait…my card!" He patted his other pockets, all empty of said card. "Where is my card!? Kiyoshi he…he took my card!" Tarou was not convinced, however. Toshi had been involved in this conspiracy as well. Who else had been trespassing behind his back? Ryouta perhaps? The man seemed to loyal enough, but now, Tarou wondered who he could trust anymore.

"Wait…what is that?"

Toshi pointed at the monitor which oversaw the emergency elevator in the Infirmary Ward and displayed the alarms for the elevator triggering as the red lights spun and flashed. Seconds later, the doors began to open, trembling as they were clearly forced wide and a massive, dark figure stepped out from between them.

"Hmm…that would appear to be the monster that Kiyoshi was speaking of." Tarou remarked, analyzing the 'monster' which was actually a behemoth-sized man draped in dark clothing and had his face obscured with a matching bandanna and sunglasses to prevent identification. A professional. "That elevator is only known to employees of this laboratory. How did our guest know of it?"

"Someone told him?" Toshi guessed aloud. Tarou sniffed again. Someone indeed.

The monster man ducked into the wing which housed the children, meanwhile, Kiyoshi had successful extracted K-MF-084 from the underground floor vault and was darting for the elevator to return to the main floor. The unknown visitor departed from the Infirmary Ward, pausing at Toshi's office and Kiyoshi came running down the hallway, only to collide with the hulking man and unfolding into a brief confrontation between the two. Toshi swallowed thickly and looked away, his stomach churning as Kiyoshi was beaten savagely onscreen while Tarou stared on, unfazed. Afterwards, the intruder grabbed K-MF-084 and the paperwork Kiyoshi had stolen and shuffled back to his point of entrance to leave. He had known about K-MF-084. Toshi was convinced now, Kiyoshi must have some sort of involvement with his assailant. There were too many coincidences. The beating was staged, as was Ayana's, to throw off suspicion. The doctor had been so desperate to rescue K-MF-084 he was willing to sacrifice not only his life, but Ayana's also. It was disgusting.

"Oh god…Tarou-sama…I-I'm so sorry. If I hadn't fallen asleep I-I could have stopped him f-from taking K-MF-084 and hurting Kiyoshi." Toshi blabbered, voice bleeding remorse but his sobs fell on deaf ears. Toshi had assisted also, how else did that man infiltrate the laboratory so easily with him on duty, asleep or not? He had also disarmed the alarms from the elevator itself, only a process Toshi was aware of. Tarou's trigger finger itched but luckily for Toshi, he had spent all his quivers on Kiyoshi. Otherwise, he would have a new orifice decorating his forehead. Perhaps even several.

Tarou inhaled and exhaled deeply, soothing his flaring nerves. "Toshi, move aside please."

Toshi shoved his chair backwards without question and Tarou crammed his rotund form between his equally obese counterpart and the control panel towards the separate section reserved for tracking experiments. He dug in his dress shirt pocket and withdrew a perfect replica of Ryouta's card, a card Ryouta had no knowledge of him possessing, that he scanned and the vector monitor booted up with a whine before requesting the password. Once it was supplied, the blocky, green outlay of Kusagakure took a minute to load and proceeded with scanning the rendered village for K-MF-084's freshly implanted tracking device. It found nothing and Tarou slammed his fist on the keyboard, making the computer emit a confused beeping and Toshi jump.

"Bastard took her out of Kusagakure, I can't track her or activate her shut-off." Tarou sneered, smashing down his fist again. "She's probably on the other side of the fucking country by now. Goddamn you, Kiyoshi!"

"What will we do? The Council is coming today and are expecting us to hand her over." Toshi inputted timidly.

Tarou had no answer. He hadn't planned on handing over K-MF-084 to begin with, not so easily, but the thought of Kiyoshi having successfully smuggled her out made his blood boil. Once he awakened from his surgery, he would have to interrogate him vigorously for her location. Possessing the knowledge she was out there alive and happy, not only irked Tarou, but it was also the fact she was in the general public now. If her Mayfly decided to mutate and she became ravenous, it could quickly become linked back to Kusagakure and they would be responsible for the hostile takeover of the government from the Five Shinobi Nations to cease their operations. He would not be responsible for Kusagakure's second downfall because one of his employee got too attached to the merchandise.

The phone installed on the wall began to ring and Toshi scooted his chair over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Toshi-san." A woman's unsettled voice replied from the other side and Toshi recognized it as Yumi, the front desk receptionist of the hospital. "There are…people here. They say they are from the…Council?"

"The Council?" Toshi proclaimed out loud and Tarou casted him a curious look, lips heavy with a frown.

"The Council?" Tarou rolled back his sleeve and checked his golden wristwatch. "They aren't supposed to be here until noon. They're a few hours early."

Toshi covered the receiver and looked toward Tarou. "Err…what should we do? K-MF-084 is gone. How do we explain ourselves?"

Tarou sighed. "Unfortunately with the truth. There is no avoiding that. Our jobs were already being terminated so the worse punishment we can suffer is being scolded for being so neglectful between 001 and 084. Let them through."

"Err...ok." Toshi removed his hand. "Hey, Yumi-chan, you can let them through." The woman confirmed the decision and hung up with Toshi returning the phone to its cradle.

Tarou smoothed out the wrinkles in his sleeves and shirt, casting a distasteful look downward as his torn pantleg. "I'll greet them at the elevator." He said and squeezed past Toshi to exit the office only to stop in the gaping doorway. "Oh and Toshi? I suggest you don't get comfortable. Because once I have finished the Council, you and I will be having a small talk." With that, he left as he strolled towards the elevator, not noticing the mixture of confusion and terror branded on Toshi's greasy face.

It took several minutes from the initial call for the elevator to descend multiple stories into the underground laboratory and Toshi had managed to slowly waddle over in perfect time. The elevator chirped to signify its arrival before the doors chugged open to reveal it crammed to the brim with bodies cloaked in black combat armour with their faces concealed with a variety of equally black animal masks. The occupants marched out from the cramped room in unison, standing shoulder to shoulder in three lines of three before halting abruptly. The front line separated with the members kneeling down with their heads bowed as one of the most gorgeous woman Tarou had ever had the pleasure of setting his eyes on strutted out from within the formation. He had been anticipating one of the decrypted woman from the Council, not a goodness in the flesh.

The woman's sharp, golden eyes carefully analyzed the human hog before her purple lips twitched into a grimace. "You must be Tarou." She spoke, her voice smooth like a gravel pit.

"Yes, yes, that would be me. You must be from the Council. I am afraid I am not familiar with you. Who might you be?" Tarou held out a chunky hand, struggling to show a little class and not stare at her bountiful breasts that jutted from her parted kimono that left little to the imagination.

"I have no time for petty introductions." The woman hissed, spitting like a suddenly provoked cobra at Tarou friendliness; her attitude flipping like a dime and Tarou recoiled as though she had bitten him. "I've only come for the girl and paperwork."

A suffocating air of danger wafted from the woman and Tarou struggled to rediscover his voice as his words tumbled from his tongue. "Yes, well. I am sorry to say but…K-MF-084 has been stolen."

Her penciled eyebrows knotted. "Stolen?" The shrill word echoing harshly and the soldiers behind her shuffled anxiously. "How?"

"Akiayama Kiyoshi, the doctor which was in charge of K-MF-084's development, organized an elaborate kidnapping last night. The girl and all her original paperwork is gone. We are unable to track her due to her being taken outside of Kusagakure."

An impregnable silence swelled between both parties with Tarou apprehensively awaiting the Council woman's reaction as she stared blankly at him, rapping her purple, manicured nails on her arm. Finally, after an uncomfortable length of a minute, the woman cocked her hair, her black fringe flowing across her pure white face like a waterfall. "Do you have samples of the Mayfly, in the least?"

"Oh absolutely. We have samples of every Mayfly wielder that existed in Kusagakure in the last fifty years. If more samples are needed, we have frozen K-MF-001 for future extractions."

"That will suffice." The woman assured with a dismissive wave of the hand, surprising not only Tarou, but also the soldiers as an angry commotion erupted between them.

One of the shinobi even stepped forward to challenge the woman's controversial decision. "Sir! We came for the girl, not worthless samples! Lord Dan-"

"Excuse me!?" The woman shrieked, spinning around on her heel towards the faceless man. "Did you just refer me as…sir!?"

Before the officer could correct his bizarre mistake, the woman slashed her nails towards his throat, faster that the human eye could track and the man collapsed. He clenched his throat and screamed as burning blood bubbled from his neck, the scalding liquid making contact with his armour and bird mask and melting them away like paper in the rain along with skin. The other guards backed away, none attempting to assist their companion as he withered and convulsed on the ground in the growing pool of his own steaming blood.

The woman examined her violet polished nails which were wet with blood, unfazed by the screeching. "Pity, I did not lace the polish with enough of the poison. He should have died without seconds. I'll have to recalculate the formula." She wiped the crimson substance off on the inside of her dark purple kimono-like blouse before approaching the dying man whose yells had reduced into whimpers as he twitched, a majority of his armour having melted away as well as skin, leaving the raw muscle underneath exposed. She lifted her foot and stabbed her three-inch stiletto into the man's skull, ending his suffering as he went instantly limp and quiet.

"There has been a change to plans," The woman announced, now addressing the rest of the soldiers as she wiped clean her heel, leaving streaks of blood and brain matter on the floor. "I thank you all for escorting me to Kusagakure but you are all now relieved of your duties. Permanently." The last word echoed eerily through the metal corridor, shattering the previous mild atmosphere like glass.

Immediately, the military-class shinobi took offensive positions and drew a multitude of frightening weapons that made Tarou's crossbow look like a peashooter, while the woman remained lax, an exhilarated smirk crossing her face and golden orbs flickering like flames. Tarou wisely backed away from the looming altercation and a few of the doctors which were passing through the hall unwisely stopped to watch.

"By attacking us you have announced your betrayal of -"

"I could not care less." The woman interrupted and lifted her arm, an emerald-scaled boa constrictor ejecting from her sleeve with the quickness of a bullet.

The snake collided with the face of one of the soldiers and shattered his ceramic dog mask before wounding its thick body around the man's neck. The shinobi blindly swung his machete at the serpent, narrowly chopping off his own arm in the process and the snake tightened its hug in the man's throat causing him to choke and gasp when his precious air supply was cut off. Another solider attacked the snake and cleanly sliced its ugly head off which fell to the ground in a bloody lump, twitching and forked tongue waggling. However, its body did not relent on its death grip, actually squeezing harder and the serpent's headless stump convulsed before two more heads sprouted out along with their own bodies like a hydra. The solider which had decapitated the serpent swung their weapon again at one of the new heads and mutated vermin smoothly dodged the blade with the heads retaliating against the assailant, one mouth clamping onto their weapon and the other aiming for their throat. Another shinobi quickly intercepted the attacking head, cutting it off but seconds later, two more had grown from the spurting stub and proceeded to surge at them.

The solider which had been strangled the entire time collapsed, his face gone purple and two of his comrades rushed to help, cutting away at the body to relieve the pressure. As they did, tinier snakes sprung from the incisions and attacked, digging their small fangs into their hands and pumping them with lethal poison that caused the shinobis to fall over and seize as the venom instantly paralyzed them. Within minutes at the soldiers were outnumbered as the snake multiplied into a grotesque pile of squirming bodies and heads with each cut and slice and jutsu they made and one by one, the shinobi went down, paralyzed from its poison or suffocated by their bodies to the point of unconsciousness. Once the last man hit the floor, the cluster of slithering snakes shuttered violently before erupting into a cloud of smoke. The mortified crowd which had been watching dispersed, questioning an early retirement and scratching at the tingling feeling beneath their skin as they did. Tarou tentatively shuffled back, staring at the pile of bodies they woman had effortlessly created but instead of fear a normal person would experience, he was overcome with a warm and fuzzy feeling. He might have just found his soulmate.

After taking a moment to admire her own work, the woman turned toward Tarou with smirk tattooed to her pale face. "Now, we can talk. I'll have you know that I just spared the lives of you and your entire staff. Originally, I was ordered to eliminate everyone in this laboratory after we obtained the Mayfly. The Council did not want any witnesses that could potentially talk later on about the affairs which could be tracked back to us. It would give other countries reason for a hostile invasion if they knew we had been weaponizing the Mayfly for war. Luckily for you, I never intended on handing over the Mayfly. Those fools of the Council had their chance with the Mayfly during the Second War, and they wasted it. The same with reviving the Senju. It's my turn now. So, I purpose to you a deal."

"What sort of deal?" Tarou inquired. The woman hunched over to eye level with Tarou and he recoiled from the smothering scent of perfume that smelt as cheap as the white make-up caked on her face.

"You give me the Mayfly and I won't kill everyone here for it. Simple as that." Tarou swallowed hard, his throat audibly clicking and the woman tossed her head back as she erupted in a fit of cackling. Tarou flushed. "Don't look so grave, I am joking of course. I need everyone here alive if I desire to revive the Mayfly successfully, but only if you agree. I desire to see Kusagakure's restoration as much as you do but only in exchange for an army once the Mayfly has been brought back from the brink, nothing that has not been preached to you before. You all will be going your duties as normal, except the difference will be that you are now working for me instead of the Council. An improvement, I ensure you. I shall educate your people better on the Mayfly and supply you with improved samples and test subjects so you no longer have to pull from the dwindling pool that is Kusagakure's population at risk of being discovered. It is a remarkable deal, if you ask me, and you have little choice in the matter. If you decline, then I have no reason to allow anyone here to live."

The woman was correct, Tarou had little to no wiggle room in this if he wished to live. Oh and his staff too. The deal would be no different either except their superior and he got to keep his job for a little longer. A wise man would agree, which Tarou was, and also he both feared and admired this woman too much to decline after witnessing what she had done to elite shinobi in a single breath. "Very well, I agree to your terms and accept your deal."

"Brilliant." The woman purred, rejecting Tarou's grimy hand for a second time when he held it out to secure the deal. "You are a smart man, Tarou. Unfortunately, due to the loss of K-MF-084 and death of 001, this project has been derailed tremendously due to your incompetence. It will take months to recover from such a blow and due to this, I see absolutely no use to your presence. Goodbye."

Tarou stumbled back, fat chin trembling when the woman lifted her arm again and from the dark depths of her sleeve, he perceived two yellow eyes staring back at him. Before the snake had a chance to attack, Tarou held out his hands and screamed out, "Wait, wait! W-We still have one more subject with the Mayfly!"

The woman quirked an eyebrow, her arm remaining cocked to release the impatient snake which hissed lowly but she allowed the pig to speak. "Do you?"

The overweight man recoiled himself enough to explain. "A nurse named Ayana. According to her records, her father possessed the Mayfly and was executed during the Second World War. She has never been tested but it's possible she possesses a dormant Mayfly gene. If she does, she can replace both 084 and 001."

There was a moment of tense silence before the woman lowered her arm and Tarou released the breath he had been holding. "Very well. Test the girl immediately. I will see to it that you do not screw this up also."

"Thank you, ma'am." Tarou spoke as he removed his death grip from the hilt of his pistol he had secretly grabbed ahold when the woman turned away and dabbed the sweat beaded on his face from his close brush with death.

The woman analyzed the unconscious soldiers on the floor before addressing Tarou again. "Considering these men my parting gift. It is far too dangerous to return with them after the events which have transpired. I will inform the Council of their unfortunate passing during our hazardous travel thought war-torn country. The poison paralyzed their chakra systems and bodies so they should give you little resistance."

"Thank you ma'am."

The woman stepped through the sea of bodies, carelessly walking atop some and spilling blood with the sharp edge of her heels as she navigated her way to the elevator. "I shall return in a few months. I have matters to conclude in that godforsaken village and afterwards, I will relocate to Kusagakure temporarily. I except that girl to be tested and ready for my return, understood?"

"Understood ma'am."

"Perfect. I will be looking to that time, Tarou." The doors chugged closed upon the woman's grinning white face with her elongated canines gleaming before vanishing as the elevator slowly ascended back to the hospital.

Once she was gone, Tarou readjusted his tie and left to the surgery bay to check on Ayana's condition and order her immediate detection while she was tested for the Mayfly and Kiyoshi's and Toshi's interrogation of the whereabouts of K-MF-084. Later after that, he would have to price rings for his future wife.


	13. Arc 1: Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu returns to the Akatsuki with the child of the Mayfly in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Mid), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character

**Wasteland**

**Act 1**

**Chapter 12**

It took three days through abysmal weather to return to the Land of Rivers and Kakuzu had never been so pleased to see the waterlogged country again. He was wet, hungry, sore and irked. He desired nothing more than a hot shower and food and to collapse onto his back-breaking mattress for a day of rest. Thankfully, the girl remained blissfully unconscious the entire travel and if Kakuzu suspected her of rousing, a quick pinch to the neck rendered her out of it again. He didn't need her escaping with her little trick after he went through Hell and back, twice.

On the third day, the storm had dispersed and the clouds had thinned enough for the moon to peek out from between them, illuminating the land and making navigation easier for Kakuzu as he trudged through ankle deep mud and circled flooded river banks. By it clocked midnight, his dinky little cabin was in sight with its windows glimmering, a mile trek more. If it hadn't been for the mud, he would have broken out into a run for the sweet sanctuary. It took a half-an-hour more but he was finally home as he kicked in the rotting front door and dragged himself in the warm home which was faintly lit with oil-based lanterns and the flames dancing in the lit fireplace. He dumped the girl on the hardwood floor as he shouldered off his coat and hung it up to dry on the coat rack, tucking his sunglasses and bandana in the pocket before grasping her by the back of the neck like a kitten and carrying her through the hallway towards the door to the basement. His only prayer now was that his unnamed Leader was present.

He shoved open the door and from the stairwell below, he saw a light dancing on the floor and walls, signaling someone's presence. Leader was in the basement, seated at the old desk which had been left there to rot and doing miscellaneous paperwork when Kakuzu climbed down the stairs, the man looking rough for wear with his long, brown hair wet and fizzed and a scowl on his stitched lips. Before the ginger could greet his comrade and question that smell, the miser tossed two items at the foot of his desk that landed with a heavy thud and plopped in the sitting chair with his arms crossed. Leader leant over his desk to observe what the brunette had dumped, discovering a heavyset bag and a child crumpled on the ground before slowly sitting back down and casting Kakuzu a flat look that was amplified by his ringed orbs. "Do you care to explain yourself?"

"Where the fuck do I begin?" Kakuzu exclaimed with his stitched lips cocked back in a scowl as he swiped back his damp bangs from his face.

"Perhaps with the mission Iwagakure contacted us about? Or who this child is?"

Kakuzu's mind was so exhausted that the thought of the sheer size of the explanation required made it spin. He decided to make it as short and sweet as possible so he could retire to his chambers as soon as possible. "Are you aware of the Mayfly?"

"The Mayfly? Yes, I am quite aware of it. A bloodline so infamous, it is rare to encounter someone whom has not heard of it. Especially with the Second World War being such a recent and raw wound." Leader spoke, the mention of the extinct Kekkei Genkai surprising him and peeking his curiosity as he leant forward in his seat with his hand prompted beneath his chin, awaiting an explanation as he toyed with the silver ring on his finger.

"That was the answer to your first question. To answer your second question," Kakuzu leant over in his chair to snag the filthy girl by the nape again and held her up for Leader to see. "This child possesses the Mayfly." He dropped her again carelessly and heaved himself from the tiny chair, purposely ignoring the other man's bewildered looks and hoping he could save his questions for the following morning after he had a full night's sleep and satisfied stomach and could tolerate being bombarded. Unfortunately, he could only dream.

"Wait, wait." Leader interjected, standing from his chair and prepared to prevent Kakuzu from leaving his "office" as the brunette was already crouched beneath the short doorframe. "You did not answer my questions, you created more. Sit down and give me a proper detailing of the mission from Iwagakure." With an irritated sigh, Kakuzu slumped back in the minuscule seat like a pouting toddler and Leader calmly sat back down also, patiently awaiting the for the man to simmer down so he did not suffer the sharp end of the tanned male's infamous rage.

After gathering himself for a moment, Kakuzu inhaled deeply and proceeded with the lengthy and clusterfuck of a tale of his entanglement with Iwagakure, Kusagakure and the Mayfly. His company quietly listened to the older man's account which swiftly transformed from coherent storytelling for the first portion into aimless ranting then into sleep-deprived rambling which lasted the majority of it.

After approximately ten minutes, Kakuzu concluded his jumbled report and it took Leader a moment to piece it together to the best of his ability into a rational narrative. "So, if I understand correctly. Iwagakure contacted us, due to evidence they had gather connecting Kusagakure with the Mayfly. When you arrived, you were ambushed at the stronghold by a being possessing the Mayfly which slaughtered the army stationed there before it was killed by their leader in a suicide attack. Afterward, you infiltrated a laboratory the Mayfly originated from and recovered this girl who possesses the Mayfly?"

"Yes." Kakuzu confirmed, stroking his temples to dull the warning signs of an approaching migraine. It sounded more insane when he heard it spoken back to him.

It was such a magical tale to digest, but Leader had little to no zero reason to be skeptical of the other man. Not only because the Kakuzu had been fiercely loyal to him and the Akatsuki during their short contract together, but also he seriously doubted he would bother to fabricate such a story to justify the kidnapping of a single child and some papers that would otherwise be useless to them unless they were worth an easy buck.

"Very well." Leader said, now just as eager to conclude this conversation as Kakuzu so the exhausted man could rest after such a draining adventure. Also, he could feel a distinct throbbing forming behind his eyes. "May I review the documents you retrieved?"

"Be my guest." Kakuzu granted, kicking the duffle bag closer to Leader and it slumped alongside his desk.

"Thank you. I suggest you restrain the girl tonight. If this girl does indeed possess the Mayfly, we cannot have her escaping. Otherwise, she might be gone forever and we will have lost a very valuable asset to the Akatsuki."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Kakuzu grumbled as he stood again and grasped the girl by the back of her dingy gown. The thought of losing the girl after the hell he had endured made his blood simultaneously boil and run cold.

With a wave of the hand, Leader dismissed Kakuzu as he unzipped the bag to begin reading the mountains of typed paperwork within and Kakuzu departed from his makeshift office, heaving the girl along the stairs like a corpse as he climbed them to the main floor. He settled for skipping a much needed shower and hot meal, being too fatigued to do either as crossed the hallway to his room. He shouldered the door open and the tossed the unconscious girl inside, his sleepy brain amused by how her malnourished body tumbled into the wall and slumped limp onto the ground. Once his brief entertainment was brought to an end, his mind diverted to a method of tethering the girl to prevent any and all attempts of escape, especially that with the Mayfly.

Due to his imprisonment, Kakuzu had no involvement during the Second World War and therefore no direct contact with the Mayfly so his experience with it was limited, mostly being secondhand or hearsay. A popular myth had been that the Mayfly could not phase through metal and there had been rumours of soldiers equipping themselves with metal armour so they could not be dragged away into the night or made into flesh hand puppets. He never knew if it had been true, but he had nothing better to go on at the moment as he left his room to search the house for something metallic to bind his unwelcomed guest. After a few minutes of searching in the dark, he scrounged up an old iron chain that had been used to lock the front door when he 'acquired' the cabin and had been tossed aside. He returned to his room and after a second of thinking, enveloped the chain around the girl's concave waist then around the space heater beneath the window. This way it hopefully prevented the girl's use of the Mayfly and after that, the only means of liberation would be by means of yanking the heater from the wall or bisecting herself. Certainly not a quiet escape.

With the girl firmly secured, Kakuzu stripped down and collapsed into bed, passing out within moments of his face colliding with his stale pillow.

…

The next morning, Kakuzu did not awaken until several hours after noon and it took an extra hour to conjure the strength to heave himself from his firm mattress which was abnormally comfortable in his groggy state. His first course of action once he roused himself enough was to check on the girl and discovered she hadn't moved a single inch the entire night from her slouched position and he had to check her pulse to ensure she hadn't suddenly died while he had been asleep. Confirming she was indeed alive and well, he got up and left his room to proceed with his morning routine which begun with a necessary shower. The wash-down lasted a half-an-hour and water ice cold until Kakuzu was confident enough that he had scrubbed off the disgusting layers of dirt and sweat leftover from Kusagakure from his skin and hair. For breakfast he cooked up an entire carton of a dozen eggs and pound of bacon then topped it off with another pound of sausage and covered them in a fine coat of salt which he washed down with a pot of pure black coffee to satisfy his complaining stomach that was so starved it had been feasting on its own internal lining. Clean and fed, he dressed (checking on the girl again) and descended into back the basement to speak with Leader and finally discuss the girl's fate now that he was refreshed.

Leader was reviewing the notes he had jotted down from the paperwork he had spent the night combing through when Kakuzu stepped into his office. The two men greeted each other and Kakuzu noticed the ginger man's partner was still missing in action. He had only seen her a handful of times but never spoken with her since he had been affiliated with the organization and presumed Leader had her running on errands for him like Kakuzu did.

"Did you read the paperwork?" Kakuzu asked as sat down in front of Leader's desk, the chair creaking beneath his gorged weight.

"I did. All of it." Leader answered, gesturing towards the towers of paperwork that had been neatly stacked alongside the futon behind him and Kakuzu lifted his eyebrows in amazement. There was at least a few thousand pages. Impressive.

"What did you learn about the girl?"

"A lot of things. Many quite horrible for such a young child. It was fortunate we acquired her when we did." His superior remarked, shaking his head.

"Anything about the Mayfly?" Kakuzu pressed, short patience already thinning. He couldn't less about the girl's past, he just needed to know if she possessed the Mayfly.

Leader sighed, stroking the piercing jutting from his bottom lip. Kakuzu's intentions were crystal clear and he was not ashamed of that. "Yes. From her records, I can confirm she is a full-blooded wielder of the Mayfly," If Kakuzu had a happy dance- he wouldn't be doing it because he was too prideful to engage in such idiotic gestures- but he certainly didn't prevent the grin that split across his stitched cheeks. He felt as though he had just won the lottery and he basically had. If he had completed the initial mission addressed him, just obtaining evidence of the Mayfly for Iwagakure, the payout would have been chump change compared to the unimaginable fortune this girl was worth. He would ignite the largest bidding war the world had ever witnessed and secure his financial future (and the Akatsuki's) for the foreseeable future. Probably even the length of his immortal life if he budgeted it wisely. "However, we cannot sell her." That statement killed Kakuzu's mood quickly. Nothing lit his fuse faster than having his one admiration denied or questioned: money.

"Why not!?" The burette barked, lurching from his chair with his fists clenched, threads sprouting from his tattooed wrists and whipping about like agitated snakes.

Leader's purple, ringed orbs flashed dangerously and silently warning Kakuzu the dire consequences if he attempted to assault him as he leant back in his chair. "Because two reasons. One being, that while I did confirm the girl does possess the Mayfly, there was no evidence recorded of her ability to use it."

"She doesn't need to be able use it. People would buy her for her blood and body alone." Kakuzu argued, the threads retracting for the time being and Leader finally blinked to remoisten his burning eyes.

"That is true, yes."

"So what is your second reason?"

"Because she is too valuable to the Akatsuki to sell off."

"Bullshit. You yourself just said she was incapable of the Mayfly. So what possible use to the Akatsuki would she be except a blank check?" Kakuzu snarled, jabbing his finger at the other man's chest and Leader eyed it distastefully, his Rinnegan dilating.

"The Mayfly is the pinnacle of shinobi evolution. Wielders are capable of erasing their chakra signature to be invisible and have acute senses sharp enough to detect someone miles away. It would benefit the Akatsuki greatly in countless ways. She is priceless to us."

"Don't give me a fucking history lesson." Kakuzu retracted his finger and Leader smoothed out the wrinkled spot it had been on his old Akatsuki uniform. "This brat is worth more than any person in this hell, yours and mine included, and you want to piss away this opportunity of a lifetime on a gamble?"

"Yes I do."

Kakuzu smashed his fist on Leader's desk and the poor furniture lurched backward with a large crack shooting through the middle on the surface while the paperwork arranged on it was thrown about from the force. Leader's eye twitched, unfazed by the man's angry outburst though peeved his cherished, organized paperwork was now everywhere. "You're out of your fucking mind."

"No, I am perfectly within my mindset." Leader rebutted as he coolly stood from his seat and leant over to pick up the pages scattered around his sandals, sighing internally at the thought of the amount of time it would take to reassemble them. "This girl, Zetsu, is a blissing in disguise. If Iwagakure had not contacted us, we would have never known about the existence of the Mayfly until it was used against us. With her in our possession, she shall be a perfect weapon for the Akatsuki."

"A kunai is worthless with a dull blade. This girl is of no importance to the Akatsuki without her mastery of the Mayfly." Kakuzu reiterated, flexing his hand as the stitches from his bite wound from the girl were loosened from his outburst and droplets of blood bloomed through.

"With simple chakra control and training, she can unlock the Mayfly and master it. All we need is patience."

Kakuzu barked aloud with laughter at the absurd suggestion. "'Patience?' The proficiency of Kekkei Genkai can take years, or even the user's entire lifetime to perfect. It is a last cause, and who do you intend to teach her this 'simple chakra control and training' when there is no one else left with the Mayfly to mentor her? Are you going to teach her about a Kekkei Genkai you do not own yourself?"

"No. I intend for you to do that, Kakuzu." Leader stood back up and arranged his recovered paperwork in a neat stack before resting it on the corner of his crippled desk, only for it to slip down the concaved surface and topple to the floor again much to his frustration.

Suddenly, Kakuzu's amused cackling halted abruptly and a tense silence blanketed the two men as he went deathly silent, the calm before the impending storm. "…excuse me?"

Thankfully, the storm was temporarily postponed when Leader diverted his gaze up to meet Kakuzu's scalding glare only to catch a glimpse of his savior standing quietly behind the brunette's massive frame. "Ah, Konan."

Kakuzu glanced over his shoulder to see the blue-haired woman standing stoic behind him, having not even heard a single footstep of her approaching down the stairwell. The woman's copper orbs briefly met Kakuzu's bloodshot ones before they stared passed him to settle on her partner. "I've returned with an update about the project." She spoke vaguely in Kakuzu's presence before noticing the disarray the basement had been thrown in and quirking an eyebrow.

Leader nodded, polishing one of his black nose piercings with his thumb. "Perfect. You arrived at an ideal time, Konan. We have a new member."

Konan frowned deeply, her lip piercing protruding. "A new member?" She glanced at Kakuzu who was clearly fuming, his fists clenched as his knuckles bleached white as he glared razor sharp daggers at Leader. She speculated the source of his displeasure. "I thought we agreed we would not recruit anymore new members until the Akatsuki was adequately funded and relocated." Kakuzu snorted loudly.

"We have obtained the only living person with the Mayfly."

Konan's eyes widened. "The Mayfly?" She questioned quietly, tone weighed with disbelief. She had not heard that bloodline spoken of since the baffling headlines proclaiming the bizarre demise of the bloodline from 'unknown conditions' after the Second World War. _"How?"_

"Iwagakure contacted us and Kakuzu retrieved it." Leader replied simply, too simply to curb her bewilderment, and focused back on Kakuzu who was sneering with his arms crossed so tightly the stitches on his biceps were stretching and the thread padding inside was visible. "Kakuzu. We can resume our discussion later. Right now, would you kindly introduce Konan to our newest recruit?" Without a word, Kakuzu snarled at the request and stomped from the office with Konan safely stepped aside from his warpath, his fury resonating from him and washing over her like a heatwave.

She spared her partner a curious look and the ginger shook his head as he gestured her to leave, preferring to explain it later before crouching to pick up his discarded paperwork yet again. Konan shook her head, undecided about the sudden decision that had been made without her consent but did not voice her concerns about it at that moment. She would save her mounting questions for later as she departed up the stairwell after Kakuzu to meet this new, unknown member of the organization with the Mayfly before Kakuzu got his hands on them in one of his fits of blind rage she had been advised about.

Kakuzu stampeded to his room and slammed the door behind him with enough strength that the poor slab of wood shuddered violently in its frame and dust cascaded from the planks of the surrounding foundation. The closet door did not spare any better, as a second later, his fist was embedded in it and the rotten sliding door exploded in half, collapsing onto the floor in a plume of soot and splinters. He recoiled his throbbing hand, the stitching had finally torn and blood spilled from the bite wound along with impact sites of slivers of wood which had become embedded in his skin also. His distraction with the injury was short-lived when a muffled sobbing from the opposite side of the room invaded his ears. It appeared his guest was finally awake.

The girl was whimpering and sniveling, oblivious to her captor as her bony hands clawed at the chains shackled around her trembling waist. Kakuzu reared over her, cloaking her teeny body in his sizable shadow and her glistening, golden orbs snapped up at him instantly, widening into dinner plates as the tears flooded down her face like a breached dam. Kakuzu sneered when her whimpering dissolved into a low keening noise and she released a short scream as his hand lashed out and her clamped a handful of her slimy hair, wrenching her head up so her ugly mug fully faced him.

"You useless, little shit! The only worth you are is dead! I should tear off your disgusting head and sell your body parts! That is the only benefit you ever will be to the Akatsuki! To think you are all that it left of such a glorified bloodline is disgraceful! What a fucking joke!" The girl sobbed and dug her overgrown nails in Kakuzu's hand as he yanked on her hair, the old stitches on the side of her head opening and blood straining her scalp. Her resistance only made him pull harder and she cried out. "Shut your fucking mouth!"

"What are you doing!?" Came a horrified shout behind him.

Konan had just entered the room, after unsuccessfully knocking on the door for the last minute, only to walk onto Kakuzu screaming at a child she had never seen before. She had no time to ask one of the million questions bombarding her mind, or rather chose not to, as her maternal instinct kicked in full swing and she was wrenching Kakuzu away from the quaking child. An impressive feat considering Kakuzu had a substantial advantage over her in both height and weight. Once Kakuzu was safely away, she crouched next to the crying girl and her horror was amplified upon closer inspection of the young child. The sickly girl was in the most atrocious condition Konan had ever witnessed and she was baffled how the poor thing was alive. She was breathing skeleton, not an ounce of muscle or fat on her with her dirty skin draped over her bones like a sheet and her large, yellow eyes sunken inside her outlined skull and nearly invisible past the snarled, green bird's nest on her head. It looked if she moved her skin would rip like the tissue paper of the stained gown she wore. With this came anger, when Konan saw the thick chaining constricting her to the wall heater and the blood dripping from her tear-streaked face. The woman turned toward the disgruntle Kakuzu who had been silently watching from a distance. If Konan possessed the Sharingan, Kakuzu would dead where he stood from the pure intensity of the glare that penetrated through his skull.

"What did you do?" Konan spat, orange orbs flickering like untamed balls of fire.

Kakuzu shrugged and crossed his arms, using his shirt to soak up the bleeding from his hand. "I was merely punishing the little monstrosity."

"Monstrosity? She's just a child!"

Kakuzu snorted at the amusing suggestion. "A child? That thing is not a child. It's an abomination of nature."

The girl's choked sobs increased in intensity from the insult and Konan removed her spiteful looks from Kakuzu as she concentrated on freeing the girl from her cruel restrains while whispering comforts to quell her tears. After a minute of fiddling, she loosening the chain and tossed it aside before attempting to help the girl to her feet only for her to immediately collapse into Konan's arms as her bone-thin legs gave out. Konan supported the girl against her hip as she escorted her out of the room and Kakuzu stepped aside to allow her past, averting his eyes to avoid Konan's sullen glowering though could feel his face grow warm from the ferocity of it. Once Konan had left his room with the girl, he slammed the door closed behind them. This time two of the hinges shattering from the force and leaving the door tittering on the last swivel.

He charged to his desk and sat down, burying his hands in his hair as he yanked some of the strands out by the roots in his over-boiling frustration. His ventilation was short-lived however, as a minute later, there was an unwelcomed knocking on his door. With a roar, Kakuzu stomped over to the door and threw it open, successful ripping it from the last hinge as it flew across his room and struck the wall with a frightening crash that dislodged a few planks of the termite eaten wood. In the hallway stood Leader, who calmly stared at Kakuzu, completely indifferent to the outburst he had just witnessed.

"What, the fuck, do you want?" Kakuzu asked him, voice low and jaw trembling as he resisted the overwhelming urge to scream at the other man and grab ahold of his throat. Unless he had come to apologize for the audacities committed against him before, Kakuzu did not promise himself he would restrain himself for long from acting upon his homicidal tendencies.

"I came to give you the notes I wrote down from the girl's paperwork." Leader handed over his notebook, tapping the hardcover which had "Notebook #14 Zetsu/Mayfly Notes" scrawled on it in marker. "I recorded everything I thought was important. In my attempt to reduce the amount of reading, I filled the entire book with notes. But it an easier and shorter read then thousands of papers of medical reports and entries I assure you." The offering was not an apology and Kakuzu did not accept it as he glared at Leader, his fingers twitching as they were seconds away from planting themselves in his superior's neck.

Noting the sour looks pointed at him, the ginger man sighed. "I realize you are unhappy with me, Kakuzu, but I ask that you save your objections for when we can properly discuss this. Right now, I would like you to study up on this girl and the Mayfly. The information is as interesting as it is beneficial. Would you kindly?" After a staring contest for a wearisome minute, Kakuzu finally reached forward and snatched the spiral book from Leader's hand, clenching it so hard that the reinforced cover actually began to bend in his palm. "Thank you. I leave tomorrow morning and Konan will stand in my place until I return so if you wish to discuss the matter of the Mayfly again, I suggest you read that notebook and report to me tonight." Kakuzu huffed and reached out to slam his bedroom door in the man's face, his hand groping empty air for a second before remembering his door was now busted on the floor. Instead, he settled for marching back into his room, not noticing Leader's mouth twist in an entertained smirk before the other man departed back to the dark confines of his office.

Kakuzu sat at his desk and threw down the crumbled notebook, glaring at it for several minutes in hopes it would catch a light and burn into cinders. When it sadly did not, he picked it up and flipped open the arched cover, glancing over the notes that had been written inside with neat cursive. After thumbing through a few pages, he returned to the first page and switched on the lantern on his desk to begin reluctantly reading.

**...**

Two hours later of speed reading through the secondhand report, Kakuzu closed the battered notebook and proceeded to throw it so hard at his broken closet door the book embedded itself into the cardboard-like wood. If Leader had thought that having Kakuzu read through the book would change his position on the girl, he was sadly mistaken because they had only achieved in making Kakuzu more determined in selling the girl off and not allowing her to have anything to do with the Akatsuki except for a fat paycheck. The Mayfly Man in Kusagakure had just been the tip of the iceberg and Kakuzu hadn't witnessed half of the atrocities the Mayfly was capable of. He understood now why the Five Nations had been so terrified of the Mayfly and according to conspiracy theorists, had secretly organized the bloodline's total annihilation.

However, it was impossible to blame the girl for her bloodline, she certainly hadn't chosen to be born with it and probably would not have, and he even felt slightly a tiny bit bad for her after reading a dozen pages of every procedure and surgery that had been performed on her. From countless blood tests for gallons of blood to bone marrow biopsies of nearly every bone in her body and spinal taps on every vertebrae and even several brain biopsies. There wasn't an inch on the girl which hadn't been poked and prodded and while Kakuzu was not fond of children, even he believed a child should never have to experience such trauma. That did not change his view on the Mayfly though and he wasn't about to pity her because of it and allow her to remain like a stray from the rain. She was a ticking time bomb and needed to be removed now before the Akatsuki regretted it.

Now that he was properly caught up on the Mayfly it was time for a chat with Leader as Kakuzu got up from his desk and walked over to his collapsed closet door, jerking the book from it before departing for his gaping doorway. He would have to repair his door later, or just tape up a blanket for privacy. Probably the latter.

Meanwhile, Konan had finished the tedious task of washing the girl and was dressing her in an extra pair of clothing of her own she had scrounged up. It had taken nearly an hour to scrub the layers of hardened dirt and filth from the poor girl's skin, piling it off like scabs to reveal her colourless flesh beneath that was littered with perfectly straight scars made from scalpels and indents from syringes, revealing a medical hell of a past. There was also a crude tattoo that read '084' inked down the base of her neck, directly across her jutting vertebrae. She had attempted to wash the girl's long hair too, hoping the shampoo would loosen the snarled green locks so she could brush them out but the hair was so badly matted from years of neglect that the soap did little deter the knots except clean them. In the end, to Konan's dismay, she had to shave the girl's hair off for the next hour, years of growth fluttering to the ground until the girl was left with an inch of hair on her head in a butch-cut style. The girl, while bewildered by her new haircut, did not seem upset as she observed herself in the bathroom mirror and Konan was positive there was a relief as the hair had to be painful with its knots that yanked on the roots. With the girl squeaky clean, Konan briefly left the bathroom and returned with her own clothing she was found left over from her last stay.

"There, much better, yes?" Konan said as she adjusted the muscle shirt on the girl's slumped shoulders. Konan was not a large woman, but even the shirt which fit her perfectly was comically large on the girl's petite, starved form as it appeared more a dress than a shirt.

The girl said nothing, merely nodding. It had taken Konan some time to coax the girl into the bathtub, who clearly unfamiliar with it, and even longer to convince her that the scissors and razor she had used to shave her hair would not harm her. After some tears and attempted escapes, the girl now sat quietly on the toilet, considerably calmer as she fiddled with the hem of gifted shirt.

Konan crouched down in front of her, sparing her a sweet smile. "Now that drama is over, why don't you and I introduce ourselves to each other? I am Konan." The girl did not respond, her caramel eyes staring at Konan. Konan did not pressure her for her own name as she was obviously shy and no doubt still recovering from the shock of everything which had happened today between Kakuzu and Konan. She would merely ask Pein later if he knew it. "Alright, then why don't we feed you? I can't imagine how hungry you must be." Hungry? The girl must have been starved the majority of her life to be so thin and Konan wouldn't be shocked if she ate an entire horse.

Konan stood and helped the child to her feet, supporting her by her arms as her knobby knees knocked together from the pressure placed on her skinny legs. She helped the girl out of the disordered bathroom, Konan settling for cleaning it later, and down the hallway towards the kitchen. Unfortunately, Kakuzu chose that moment to step out from his room and the two parties collided. Immediately, the girl began whimpering and pressed herself against Konan's legs to hide and the woman glared at the dark-skinned man distastefully. Kakuzu just snorted and eyed the girl, making her shiver beneath the weight of his scalding gaze.

"I see you washed the hellion," Kakuzu remarked to Konan. "And cut her hair also so now we all have to suffer her hideous little mug." The girl's bottom lip trembled, clearly understanding the insults being thrown at her, and Konan quickly hurried her away from the man, glowering at him as she did. Unfazed, Kakuzu resumed his journey as he descending into the cellar that doubled as an office and bedroom for his superior.

"That woman had already begun babying that girl. Typical female." Kakuzu grumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs down though he had spoken it loud enough that Leader heard the misogynist comment towards his partner.

"Konan? I would be lying if I said I was surprised. She had always had a weakness for children, especially those in such a desperate situation as Zetsu. I'd ask you speak of her more respectively, Kakuzu. She is my partner therefore your superior also," Leader said, signing a paper and shuffling it to the stacking pile beside him, having reclaimed all his paperwork and neatly reorganized them on his damaged desk which had been quickly patched with duct tape. "Did you read through the notes?"

"Yes."

"Perfect, we can have an appropriate conservation about the Mayfly now that we are both educated on it. Now, please share your thoughts."

"You're fucking insane."

Leader frowned, that certainly was not the response he expected but perhaps he had been too optimistic with Kakuzu. He had never met someone so difficult to please. "I thought that once you read my research notes you would be more welcoming to idea of recruiting Zetsu with her Mayfly, but obviously I was mistaken." He laid down his pen and folded his hands together as he leant back in his swivel chair. "What is the issue this time, Kakuzu?"

"Don't give me that bullshit," Kakuzu tossed the notebook on leader's desk, knocking aside his stack of signed paperwork to the floor again. "You know exactly what my issue is."

Leader sighed and pitched the bridge of his nose between his piercings, his precious organized paperwork ruined once more. Investing in folders was becoming a consideration. "No, I honestly do not, Kakuzu. It can be anything, so please elaborate."

"The Mayfly is a treacherous bloodline and you continue to believe it will benefit the Akatsuki?"

"There are glaring negatives, it is true. But the positives far outweigh them. With the Mayfly on our side, we will be in possession of arguably the greatest Kekkei Genkai to ever exist besides the Sharingan and my own Rinnegan."

"And what if the girl decides she does not want to assist the Akatsuki? What if she uses the Mayfly against us? I've seen what the Mayfly is capable of. Those positives will become negative, quickly."

"Well, thankfully, at the moment we do not need worry about that, do we? Once her Mayfly is awakened then I'm positive she will have warmed up to us all and the vision of the Akatsuki."

Kakuzu laughed. "The moment that brat activates the Mayfly, it will maim her conscious and render her into nothing but an imbecilic savage like that brute in Kusagakure and every other poor bastard during the Second World War," Kakuzu stabbed his finger on the notebook where Leader himself had recorded evidence of the Kekkei Genkai's destruction of its host's brain upon awakening, leaving them basically braindead. "If that happens, the Akatsuki will be nothing to her but a lavish human buffet."

"There is also the possibility it will not and her mental state will be unharmed," Leader argued back, having also written down a case of a Mayfly wielder, a child younger than Zetsu from the same laboratory labeled as K-MF-002, being perfectly within her right mind after the bloodline's animation. "The chance is high, actually. Due to years of chemotherapy the girl endured with a chemical created specifically to reduce the Mayfly's poisonous chakra."

"Yes, but it also potentially suppressed the Mayfly altogether so she might not be able to rouse it at all now." Yet another fact Leader forgetfully included. Perhaps he should also include the little matter of a potential and brutal death if the Mayfly was incorrectly used?

"But she might be able to," Leader stressed, his head again beginning to pound from the persistent back and forth. "Kakuzu, please explain to me why you are so insisting on ridding this child and her Mayfly? Is there a reason besides the money?"

"I'm merely arguing my side," Kakuzu reasoned. "But yes there is. You are placing too much faith on this brat. You should never place all your chips in one pot. She had shown nothing to prove herself besides a bust. You'd be better off collecting your winnings and leaving."

"Yes, but I'm willing to risk that chance and play the hand I've been dealt," Leader responded. "I've always been optimistic when it regards a person's qualifications. When you and I first met, I praised your Kinjutsu, did I not?"

"Yes, but you did not employee me due to Kinjutsu alone. You employed me for my knowledge of accounting and resources."

"And that gamble of mine paid off, yes?" Kakuzu sighed, massaging his temples. His boss was not understanding the overall situation and risks associated with this girl. This reckless gambling of his could cause him the entire Akatsuki and their lives.

"I will strike you a deal, Kakuzu." Leader suddenly offered.

Kakuzu's bloodshot eyes narrowed. "A deal?"

Leader nodded. "Yes. It is simple. If Zetsu activates her Mayfly and it results in the ruin of her psyche, then you are free to sell her at any price you deem necessary. But, if her Mayfly is activated and she is perfectly right-minded, then she will remain with the Akatsuki. My only condition is that you will be responsible for her training."

"Why the hell do I have to train the brat? I'm not her babysitter. You're the one so interested in her, so why the fuck don't you do it?"

"Because I am too occupied with the Akatsuki and another project that requires both I and Konan's attention so neither myself or her can train Zetsu which only leaves you." Leader explained simply with a casual shrug. Kakuzu sneered, the heat of another rage licking his skin but the other male did not allow that to threaten him. "Kakuzu, I suggest you accept this deal. This way, we both know the risks and rewards. Either way, the result will be split either way we approach this." Leader was correct. Either the girl had the Mayfly and it destroyed her mind or it did not, it was a fifty-fifty shot. Kakuzu could only roll the dice and pray the results were in his favour.

"Fine."

"Perfect." Leader searched around in the top drawer of his desk before uncovering what he had stashed earlier and placing a piece of paper in front of Kakuzu along with a pen. "Now, just please sign this."

"The hell is this?" Kakuzu huffed as he scooped the paper up which had been entirely hand-written and had a list of bullet points.

"A contract. Basically, it details the agreement we discuss and if you sign it, you agree to my terms including that no harm or death shall befall Zetsu while she is in your care and you will not sell her outside the circumstances agree. If these terms are broken, then I am free to terminate your partnership to the Akatsuki." Kakuzu glanced up from the contract, shooting Leader a flat glare. "Please Kakuzu. You are a businessman. You know better than anyone that nothing is official unless it is written down. Also, I want your word on this. You might be in charge of finances, but I am in charge of the Akatsuki and at the moment, Zetsu is property to the Akatsuki, not the bank. Now, would you kindly sign it?"

Kakuzu briefly reviewed the contract, confirming it enlisted everything he and Leader spoke about and nothing was hidden between the lines. With a growl, he signed his name at the line supplied at the bottom before tossing it in the ginger's piercing-riddled face and taking his leave. He would have to begin his plotting on how he would handle this new 'student' of his that wouldn't result in her imitate death.

"Thank you." Leader said, plucking the paper from his hair and storing it back in his desk for safe-keeping. "Now then, when is the soonest you can begin Zetsu's training?"

"When I give a shit." Kakuzu called back.


	14. Arc 1: Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu's training beneath Kakuzu begins and Kakuzu decides to start it with a dramatic dietary change on account of the Mayfly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Mid), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan), Violence/Gore, Cannibalism

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc:**

**Chapter 13**

The time it took for Kakuzu to 'give a shit' was approximately a week. That week, Konan had sole custody over Zetsu and Kakuzu wisely kept his distance, biding his time until the woman left. It would not be smart to invade a cave to steal a cub when the mother bear was present.

During the week, Konan spent accustomating the girl, whose name she learned to be Zetsu, to her new home and life within the Akatsuki and attempting to repair some of the damage she had suffered in her past life after reviewing her records. It was a feat certainly easier said than done. Feeding the girl was issue enough as the only thing she was capable of eating was oatmeal and anything else resulted in vocal gagging or violent vomiting altogether. A byproduct of the mutations caused from the Mayfly. Then there was the problem of verbal communication as Zetsu was completely mute and could only speak in whines and chirps so it took effort for Konan to distinguish between which were sounds of distress and what was noises of request for food or sleep. By the end of the week however, she was able to say 'Ko' when referring to Konan and the woman considered that a tiny victory. Also her ability to walk on her own had improved. Unfortunately, before she could properly begin Zetsu's recuperation, Pein returned from his business. This meant she would have to leave to occupy his place and while it normally did not bother her, afterall they were partners, this time however, there was a glaring concern. Kakuzu.

"Pein, Kakuzu will kill her. You cannot leave Zetsu with him!" Konan argued heatedly with Pein, hands pressed down on his desk and the broken furniture bowed beneath her applied weight.

"Kakuzu will not kill Zetsu, Konan," Pein assured her as he concentrated on signing paperwork, unfazed by her sudden rebellion against him. Honestly, he had prepared himself for a similar reaction when he returned. "He is under contract. If any unnecessary harm or death befalls her than he will be eliminated from the Akatsuki. The risk is too great for him to attempt anything or make mistakes."

"'Mistakes' can be made." Konan intoned, emphasizing 'mistakes' with a sarcastic tone. She did not trust Kakuzu enough to believe he was capable of innocent accidents with Zetsu. Nothing was an accident with the brutish man nor innocent.

"You've grown very attached to this girl in such a short period." Pein observed, setting aside his pen as he focused on his flustered, female partner, calmly folding his hands beneath his chin.

"How can I not? She's had a horrible life and the Akatsuki is her life now. She deserves better from us," Pein said nothing in reply to her heartfelt confession and Konan sighed. "Doesn't she remind you of us, Nagato?"

The forthright question earned the desired effect as Pein's Rinnegan faded and Konan could only imagine Nagato's reaction from the otherside of the human vessel. Obviously, he did not want her to witness it. Probably acknowledgement that the comment was indeed somewhat true, whether he admitted to it or not. A child whose life had been torn asunder from the horrors of war and her only salvation was the Akatsuki? She was more alike them than Nagato would ever admit. A few seconds later, the Rinnegan returned to Pein's eyes and it took another moment for the medium to 'restart'.

"Konan, for both your own interest and the interest of the Akatsuki, I recommend you detach yourself emotionally from Zetsu. Unless she is able prove herself with the Mayfly, she is nothing more than an asset to the Akatsuki that can and will be sold off if deemed necessary." The man returned to his steady workload, ignorant to the blue-haired woman's insulted expression from the affront remark.

Regardless of personal feelings, Konan wisely did not argue with Pein. It would be like yelling at a brick wall, pointless and fatiguing, and instead, begrudgingly choice to pack her bags for the trek back to their home village for an indeterminate amount of time. Hopefully, it was not too long. She feared for Zetsu's safety and would not remove herself like instructed. She was the only person in the world the girl had now. Her bags stuffed with clothing, Konan took her leave without bidding her partner goodbye and as she shuffled past his desk, her duffle bag 'accidental' brushing against the growing stack of signed paperwork he had built and knocked it to the floor in a cascade of white.

Pein frowned when his beautiful organized papers fluttered to the floor in a jumbled mess yet again. "Would you kindly come back and pick this up?" He called after Konan but the woman did not respond and slammed the door behind her, strong enough to quake the basement and the rest of the paperwork that had endured the collapse, slid off his desk to join its brethren on the floor. The ginger sighed and pinched one of the piercings that lined the bridge of his nose. Perhaps Kakuzu was correct, women were quite the emotional handful.

…

On her way out, Konan visited Zetsu to inform her of her unwanted departure so she did not worry. She was currently residing in the second bedroom of the cabin and while it was across the hall from Kakuzu's room, Konan preferred it rather than having her sleep in the living room and on the ugly, age old couch that wheezed dust when sat on. When she nudged open the closed door to check on Zetsu, the girl was sound asleep in bed, deeply cocooned away in the moth-nibbled blankets as Konan had left her the night before. Normally, Konan awoke her for breakfast, but this morning was different as she gently prodded the girl awake.

It took a moment before Zetsu's eyes twitched behind her lids and rolled open. The girl blinked a few times, her golden eyes hazy from the aftereffects of deep sleep until she was able to perceive Konan's blue hair and immediately jolted up on her mattress, wide awake. She emitted to her a series of happy chirping of 'Ko' with her lips wrenched back behind her canines in a wide smile and Konan smiled back, squeezing the child's sunken cheekbones and scratching her nails through her shaved, emerald locks.

"Good morning," Konan chirped. Zetsu chirped back, quite literally and wound her arms around Konan's neck to be heaved out of bed for breakfast but the woman kindly declined. "Not this morning, sweetheart. Listen, I have to leave. I will be gone shortly, alright, Zetsu?"

Zetsu nodded, not appearing too distraught over the sudden information and Konan wondered if she truly understood the degree she was speaking. Nevertheless, perhaps her ignorance was bliss so she did not get too upset once Konan left.

"Good. Now, if you need anything, just ask Pein. He might seem scary, but he's all bark and no bite." Konan smirked from her own metaphor, an amusing image entering her mind of a growling, lapdog Pein. It was a lie, however, as Pein was in cahoots with Kakuzu but she did not Zetsu knowing that. Again, Zetsu nodded, her vicious smile intact and Konan was convinced now the girl understood nothing she said and was merely responding to the sound of her voice. It was probably for the best. "Alright, Zetsu, can I have a hug?" That, the girl clearly understood as she lunged onto the woman, squeezing her tightly and nuzzling her neck. Konan hugged her back firmly, so not to do any harm to any of the healing wounds on her bone thin body.

After a few seconds, Konan released the petite girl and ushered her back into bed, tucking her securely in the coverings so she was not chilled. "I'll be back soon, I promise." She patted the girl's head before picking up her bags and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her with a silent click.

…

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had just risen and was enjoying his breakfast when Konan entered the kitchen only to come to a screeching halt behind him. He did not pause in his eating as he shoveled another chunk of salt-saturated egg onto his butter-soaked toast and into his mouth, ignoring the woman's distasteful glowering he perceived from the corner of his eye. When she did not leave even after several minutes, Kakuzu sighed and shifted around his seat to meet her heated looks, annoyed his meal had been interrupted.

"Can I help you?"

"Do not hurt Zetsu or you will be sorry, Kakuzu." Konan avowed, rather forcefully considering the person she was speaking to.

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"

"No. It's a promise." And with that, she took her departure and exited the cabin, leaving behind a taken aback (and miffed) Kakuzu.

"Damned woman." Kakuzu sneered as he returned to his breakfast which had been considerably spoiled from her attempted intimidation. If Konan thought threatening him would frighten him into treating the brat like a little princess like her, she was dead wrong. This girl was potentially costing him a fortune each and every day and if he wanted to vent those frustrations out of her, he had every right to, regardless of contracts and threats.

His breakfast successfully ruined, Kakuzu dumped the rest of his plate into the trash and washed his hands. At least now Konan was gone and he could begin the tedious process of awakening the girl's Mayfly. He had no idea how long it would take, or how to do it, but the sooner the better. There was treasure trove of cash awaiting him and he was impatient to get his hands on it and be rid of the vermin. Once the cleaning was finished, he left the kitchen to the cabin entrance and retrieved his jacket from the coat rack stationed there. He shrugged on the thick, leather trench coat and tied his bandanna around his face then pushed his sunglasses onto his nose before leaving the cabin himself for some 'hunting'.

The mother bear had left the cave and now it was time for the hunter to coax the cub out with meat.

…

A few hours after Konan left, Zetsu awoke again and was instantly alarmed when Konan was not there to greet her and whisk her away for food or a bath. The girl sat up in her bed, glancing around the barren room for any sighting of the woman but there was nothing. Konan said she would back soon, right? It had been soon so where was she? Kiyoshi always told her he would be back soon and he was. She waited a few minutes, thinking she was just a little late but when even that did not pan out, Zetsu got worried and scared. She carefully climbed out of bed, setting her unsteady feet on the wooden floor and waiting until her legs stopped trembling before slowly stepping to the closed door. She twisted the brass knob and peeked out. The hallway empty, there were no voices and she could not hear Konan's heels clicking around the floor or her voice. She was terrified to leave however, because of the monster Konan called 'Kakuzu'. The one responsible of hurting Kiyoshi and bringing her here. She listened harder but heard nothing still, just dead silence and she concluded that perhaps he was gone or asleep too so she took a shaky step outside into the hallway. Cautiously, she tiptoed about the cabin, checking every room she could in search for Konan, wisely leaving the monster's room and the door which led to a treacherous basement unexplored. It had only taken a few minutes with Konan nowhere to be found. It was too much for the teenager's mentally slow brain to handle as she sobbed and softly wailed on the living room floor.

Suddenly, her anguish was interrupted by the sound of a lock being undone. She glanced around before realizing it was the front door and saw the golden door lock was wiggling in the frame. Of course, the front door! Konan had probably left outside. She never thought to check because Konan had warned her to never go outside unsupervised since it was too dangerous and Zetsu was unfamiliar with it. She had never seen the sun or trees before so who knew what else was out there. Zetsu stood and stumbled over to the front door, turning the knob when the door was unlocked and tugging it open with her meager strength to allow Konan in. However, when she opened the door, it was not Konan standing on the other side.

"Hmm?" Kakuzu grunted when the door was unexpectedly opened for him and he gazed down to see the girl, noting how her sharp grin instantly fell from her face within milliseconds of seeing him and an expression of pure terror twisted her pale features. "Oh, it's you. Perfect. Hnn, this is much easier than wrestling you from your room."

Unfortunately, the moment he said that, the girl turned and fled as fast as her weak legs could carry her away from Kakuzu in the direction of her room, screaming. The miser snarled, his patience already worn thin, and launched his hand from his wrist. The appendage shot across the cabin faster than Zetsu could run and clamped down onto the back of the oversized shirt she wore, using it to violently yank her back towards him. She landed hard onto her back in front of him, the collision briefly stunning her as she gasped for breath, and when Kakuzu leant down to wrench the girl up, she snapped her bear trap-like teeth at his hand, nearly chomping off one of his fingertips. Kakuzu recoiled to dodge her lethal teeth and the child took the opening to wriggle past him through the narrow entrance and into the outside world.

"You little shit!" Kakuzu fumed as the girl sprinted through the clearing that surrounded the cabin and towards the thick of the forest only a few meters away. _'Thank god she can't use the Mayfly.'_ Kakuzu wasn't in the mood to pursue the girl around the woods in a giant game of hide-and-seek so decided to leave that responsible to someone else.

"Daora!" In reply to the name, the wind-element mask throbbed and twitched in his back as the creature rose. The mask stitched to his back detached from his skin as a cluster of tightly wound threads thrusted it out from beneath the collar of his coat and over his shoulder onto the grassy floor. In a moment, the threads arranged themselves in a dog-like creature with wings and erected itself. Daora flexed its wings and stretched like a cat as it awoke before focusing its attention on Kakuzu, plopping itself down in front of its master with greeting, metallic caw.

"Daora," Kakuzu spoke again, pointing in the direction the girl had ran off, now successfully hidden among the trees and out of sight. _"Fetch."_ Like a bloodhound on the hunt, Daora shot into the treeline with the quickness of a bullet. In only a matter of minutes, the troublesome brat had been successfully found.

Kakuzu smirked when the girl's screaming echoed throughout the forest followed by Daora's provoked squealing. It appeared the girl had had her hiding place discovered and was currently being secured for transportation by the wind-element creature. The screams faded out and a serene silence engulfed the forest as birds chirped happily in the distance and the leaves rustled from a gentle breeze. Kakuzu enjoyed the quiet for its entirety until the peace was shattered by the familiar cawing and spasmodic flapping of wings. Daora emerged from the thicket, gliding awkwardly and landed on the ground, galloping the rest of the distance to Kakuzu. Once there, it seated itself at his feet, wings flexing and backside wagging back and forth like a dog. Its body was noticeably swollen.

"Good," Kakuzu said, much to the heart monster's pleasure as its rear shook harder. "Now, release." Daora obeyed without hesitation as its fiber body unwound itself and expelled the body it had previously devoured.

The teenager slumped to the floor, seemingly having passed out but after a moment, the girl jolted awake and inhaled loudly, her fangs condensing the absorbed air into a whistle. Zetsu clambered upward, shaking and gasping, as her caramel orbs scanned her surroundings to reinsert herself. Her sight captured Daora, who greeted her with a happy squawking, which made her swarm away but the moment her eyes settled on Kakuzu who was impatiently observing from above, a scream tore itself from her strained lungs. The girl rolled over to her hands and knees and launched herself to her feet to run again but Daora reacted before she could and trotted into her path, shrieking and puffing itself like an angry feline, scaring her backwards where she collided with Kakuzu's tall legs. She screamed again, shielding her head and Kakuzu leant down, snatching her by the back of her collar and using it to lift the girl to his eyelevel, lowering his sunglasses so his mismatched orbs pierced hers. Zetsu immediately closed her eyes and covered them with her hands, sobs shaking free from her heaving chest.

"Listen here, you little shit," Kakuzu seethed, dumping the girl to the ground, a good six foot plus fall and she struck the floor on her back, sobs broken into heaving. "Konan isn't here to protect you. I'm your caretaker now and you better fucking listen to me. Otherwise, your life will be more of a hell than you have ever experienced before, understood?" His only reply was crying and he decided the answer would be the best he would get out of the pitiful child.

"Now stop crying," The command only made Zetsu wailed louder as snot and drool leaked from her facial orifices in a disgusting show. "Stop crying!" The girl wept loudly, drowning out Kakuzu's yelling and making the stabbing ping of a migraine spawn in his brain. He removed his glasses and nursed his throbbing temples with snarl.

He would accomplish nothing with the girl crying like she was. He couldn't even get a single word in without the sound of voice setting her off farther. He had intended to read the girl off a slew of rules he had crafted during their 'training' together, but it seemed like that was impossible now and he would have to move onto his second plan for the day. Kakuzu walked away, abandoning the girl to wail, as he rounded the cabin where he had stashed his little present for her under the house. After retrieving the gift, he heaved to back to the sniffling teenager and dumped it in front of her. Zetsu temporarily halted her tears from the sound of something being dropped in front of her and screamed at the sight of a dead body in front of her.

The man was clad in civilian clothing, a local farming, and had had his neck broken as his head was twisted around at an impossible angle, his brown eyes bulging in its sockets and mouth frozen mid-scream. Kakuzu was sarcastically hurt she did not like his present for her. He had spent the entirety of the morning hunting for a delicious meal for her. He had to trek a few miles outside Amegakure to the swampy backwoods to finally locate a human sacrifice without being seen. Little shit should be more appreciative of his generosity. Obviously, he would have to include that on his developing list of strict guidelines with her.

"Quit screaming, you little shit," Kakuzu hissed. "You should be thanking me that I was kind enough to secure you a fresh meal. So long as I have to suffer your miserable existence, you will be nothing to me but the monstrosity you are and that includes treating you as such. Now, eat up." The girl was skin and bones and a gentle breeze could probably kill her at the weight she was now so fattening her up was vital and due to the Mayfly, that could only be achieved if she embraced her natural born cannibalism.

Zetsu did not 'eat up' as instructed and instead scrambled away from the decaying corpse, attempting to flee again but Daora bounded after her, snagging her pant leg in its mouth and using it to drag her back towards Kakuzu and the body. While Daora controlled the thrashing girl, enduring a few kicks to the face which cracked its mask, Kakuzu withdrew a kunai from his ankle and hunched over, slicing off a chuck of blood flesh from the dead man's arm before walking over to the girl with it in hand. Zetsu stared up at Kakuzu in horror as he dangled the meat above her face, drops of cold body dripping onto her tear-streaked cheeks and the man leant down, smashing it against her lips in an attempt to force it into her mouth. She resisted and he resorted to force as threads sprung from his wrist, weaving themselves between her lips and tying around her canines, using them as leverage as her jaws were slowly apart. Once her mouth was wide enough, Kakuzu dropped the hunk of muscle into it then quickly had his threads retreat from her mouth as he clamped her mouth closed with his hands to prevent her from expelling it.

Zetsu struggling, nostrils flaring and tearing eyes rolling back in her head as the overpowering flavour of copper and rot invaded her taste buds and made them water. Even worse, she realized the taste was _not bad_ and her hungry stomach seemed to roar for it. She reached up in skirmish, yanking Kakuzu's black bandana from his face and the sight of his stitched face made her gasp sharply through her nose. As a result, the flesh that had been sitting on her tongue slid down her throat and into her stomach, striking the bottom like a rock. Kakuzu saw the girl's throat bulge out as she finally swallowed the flesh and it disappeared beneath her collar. He kept his hands locked on her face to prevent her from upchucking it. When she managed to keep it down after several seconds, he released her as did Daora and both parties took a step back to observe the girl. Kakuzu fully expected her to make her vomit up the meat but to his surprise, she did no such thing and even more surprising was her numb expression.

Zetsu stared upwards towards the clear sky, her golden eyes unfocused and blood stained mouth hanging ajar as rivers of drool leaked from her quivering lips. She did not move as she laid flat on her back, almost in a deep trance, and Kakuzu, deciding to test a theory, retrieved another cut of meat. He slung the chuck above her face, swinging it side to side like a master teasing a mutt with a treat and when he lowered it closer to her face, she suddenly jerked upwards and caught the ration between her fangs, nearly taking Kakuzu's fingers along with it. She tilted her head back and the meat easily slid down her throat without the assistance of chewing. Her empty expression shifted to something more malevolent, inhuman and Kakuzu recognized it as the same look from the Mayfly Man. He stepped aside and the second the corpse behind him was unimpeded, Zetsu pounced like a starved animal as her canines tore flesh from bone.

Kakuzu quietly observed the gory show, the sound of her snarling and snorting as well as the wet tearing of meat making his stomach churn slightly. When the display got a bit too much for his liking, he took his leave back to the cabin, leaving Daora to babysit the girl as she feasted. He felt slightly dirty from the he had just witnessed and a shower felt appropriate but with his uncleanliness came the sensation of victory. The Mayfly was well and alive in the girl and clearly the line between her sanity and the bloodline was paper thin, threatening to overwhelm her. This girl would not survive the Kekkei Genkai's awakening as Leader insisted. Kakuzu felt victorious from the thought of it alone.

A full hour and shower later, Kakuzu decided to check in on the girl. He had not been alerted by Daora's shrieking so she obviously had made no attempt to run again, probably too occupied with her meal. When he exited the cabin, the first thing he noticed was the body, or lack there was. It had been completely dissembled, stripped to the bone with the limbs laying in a neat pile next to it. It did not appear a human child had eaten it but an entire pride of lions, impressing (and also disgusting) Kakuzu with the pounds of flesh she had consumed within such a short time frame. Sleeping beside the husk of a corpse was Zetsu, peacefully curled up in a sunny patch of grass with her clothing and skin soaked in blood and gore. She did not stir when he approached her nor when he scooped her up and tucked her beneath his arm. Daora stood from the spot it had been lounging and strutted to its master, returning to its cozy home in his back as Kakuzu carried Zetsu inside. As he walked back to the cabin, he paused to observe the bloody girl under his arm and sneered. He cursed Leader aloud for making him her babysitter. His only wish at this point was the Mayfly awoke, and soon.


	15. Arc 1: Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu's training with Kakuzu begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Abuse (Mid), Genderbend (Low), Blood/Gore (Low), Out of Character (Konan)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 14**

Zetsu slept for the next three days. The morning after their first meeting, Kakuzu had barged into her room to awaken her and escort her outside so they may begin their training only to discover she was unbothered but his abrupt entrance. He tried to rouse her by means of violent shaking and screaming with no result. He made several more attempts throughout the day without success. The morning after, the conclusion was the same and he questioned if her human meal had resulted in brain damage and she had lapsed into a coma. To answer his concerns, he asked Leader about it, if something about it had been mentioned in the records about the Mayfly and ginger simply told him that consuming the amount of calories and multiple pounds that she had had probably overwhelmed her body and it needed to rest in order to disgust the sheer amount of it. It was a half-assed explanation, but Kakuzu accepted it as it better than nothing.

On the third day, Kakuzu's patience was wore thin and this time when he aggressively tried to rouse Zetsu and after a few hours it was successful as the girl slowly recovered from her food-induced sleeping coma. The first thing she did upon seeing him was cower beneath her covers, whimpering and trembling and the man rolled over his eyes from the teenager's pathetic behavior. He wrenched up the blanket shielding her from him and jabbed a harsh finger into her forehead making her flinch.

"Wash yourself and get dressed," He gruffly commanded, nose quirked up in a grimace from the stale smell drifting off of her. "Once you're done, come outside immediately. If you take too long, I will drag you outside myself. You've wasted enough of my time already. Understood?" Zetsu did not reply as he stared at him in silent terror and Kakuzu sneered. _"Understood?"_ She jumped from the snarl and curtly nodded in reply, eyes glazed over with unshed tears. Satisfied, Kakuzu left her 'room' and outside to await her.

An hour later, the girl timidly left the cabin, clean, to an extent, and dressed with her clothes on backwards. Apparently Konan had only given her a single pair of clothing as she was clad in the blood-soaked outfit from days ago. Kakuzu greeted her by pointing at the ground in front of him. "Sit." She obeyed without hesitation as she plopped down in the grass, casting a concerned look behind her at the dozing Daora who was accompanying them for this training session to ensure the she did not attempt to run again.

Once the girl was in the sun, Kakuzu admired his own work. From a single human meal alone, the unnatural white colour to her skin had darkened into a healthier shade and she even appeared more plump then when he had seen her last. If this progressed, then she would soon be perfectly fit for their training regardless of the recovery times it took after each feast. He had done more in a single day than Konan accomplished in an entire week. He would have to remember to smear the results of his success in her face when she returned.

"Due to unfortunate circumstances, I have been assigned to train you in order to activate your Mayfly." He grumbled, adjusting his sunglasses on his nose. "So if you and I are to get along, I have composed a few rules I suggest you follow. Otherwise, I shall punish you as I see appropriate, understood?" Zetsu quickly nodded and Kakuzu wondered if she was just nodding to please him or she truly understood him. Nothing in her records spoke about her possessing autism, but at this point he was convinced it was because they had never tested her for it. Either way, he accepted her panicked answers. He reached into the pocket of his slacks and withdrew a personal notebook where he had drabbled down necessary notes for their training sessions together. He thumbed through the pages until landing on the one where he had neatly listed down the rules he intended to cement in her tiny mind.

"Rule One: Respect. I am your superior in every definition and you are to acknowledge that. I am not your friend and I never will be. I am not Konan. When answering or addressing me, will do so by 'Sir', nothing less. Anything else and I shall take it as an insult,"

"Rule Two: Compliance. You are to obey each and every instruction I give, no questions or objections. I am wasting my precious time to train your pathetic existence and I will not tolerate disobedience or complaints. Any backtalk or rebellion shall receive swift and harsh punishment,"

"Rule Three: Behavior. You are to be on your perfect behavior at all times. If you step out of bounds or act up, I will physically replace you back within the line. It will be more unpleasant each time I do. Pray I do not lose my temper or you will not survive,"

"Rule Four: Effort. I will be training you and I expect nothing less than one-hundred percent of your effort placed into it. I will not be merciful towards you so do not assume I will relent when you are tired or sore or plead for your pitiful life. You will be able to rest when I allow you to rest and I will not care if you wet yourself in desperate need of the bathroom. Failure to do so shall result to the revocation of your only source of food and other luxuries such as sleeping indoors or bathing."

"And last, Rule Five: Appreciation. Everything I do for you, I expect your upmost gratitude. That includes everything from the meals I supply you to your trainings. I also want you to thank me for sparing your life every day and your reward for doing so shall be the gift of living to see the next day."

Kakuzu snapped his little notebook closed and Zetsu flinched, having zoned out slightly from his lengthy reading. "Now, is this all understood?" The girl immediately nodded and he knew she was lying but did not call her on it. He would rather she did not properly listen and mess up so it gave him an excuse to vent his frustrations onto her. Afterall, she had already broken the first rule by failing to properly address him. "Good. I will not repeat myself so I suggest you keep everything I said memorized." Now that the easy part somewhat settled, now came the tedious process of actually training the girl. His favourite.

Kakuzu began his lesson by detailing at length about basic definitions such as chakra, shinobi arts and Kekkei Genkai to Zetsu, who obviously had never heard of any of it by the blank looks he inherited as though he spoke gibberish (he might as well be). After the elaborate explanations which he refused to repeat since she wouldn't understand it any better, he shifty moved onto training her basics of chakra control, a task easier said than done. Unlike the healthy chakra pathways of a regular shinobi, those of Mayfly hosts were needle-thin and restricted a normal flow of chakra. Due to this, they were incapable of jutsu besides that of their Kekkei Genkai, even that of the simplest jutsu such as clone and transformation jutsu. With this crutch, it crippled the girl's learning capabilities in regards to chakra control and restricted Kakuzu's teaching abilities. Implying he had these skills. He hadn't been a student since before the First World War and during then, academies hadn't existed. When he was child, teachers were just shinobi who were generous with their limited time and would take a few students under their wing but for a steep price. He could remember stealing money from his alcoholic father for classes. When the First World War approached, schools were built for the sole purpose of training kid soldiers. Compared to now, everything he had been taught when he was younger was either considered outdated by modern techniques or his new underling was incapable of exercising them (or would kill her). He wasn't a fucking teacher. What was Leader thinking? He wasn't, that's what.

Instead he educated her on chakra techniques he had read about in a book of modern techniques taught in academies of the Five Nations, or least modern during the Second World War when it was published. Even that, however, was too much for the girl's feeble mind to comprehend as everything Kakuzu said was either misunderstood or she was too scared to listen. By the umpteen attempt, he had become so frustrated that he began screaming demands at her and the juvenile bolted in reply. Daora quickly captured her, however, and dragged her back to its master's feet before waddling off back to its sunbathing. After taking several minutes, he soothed his flared nerves and exhaled deeply before focusing on the trembling child.

"Might I remind you of Rule Four?" Kakuzu explained calmly so not to spook the fidgety girl again. "If I do not deem your performance satisfactory, then I shall revoke your privileges. If you would like to sleep indoors tonight, then I suggest you actually try." Clearly, she had not listened accordingly before as he had suspected and this was breaking news to her as Zetsu's sunny eyes widened. Now she was listening. "Is that understood?"

She nodded instantaneously and without warning, he brought his open hand across the side of her head with enough force to send the petite teenage tumbling several feet through the dirt. She produced a shrill noise as she cradled her throbbing head and Kakuzu yanked her up harshly by her boney forearm, forcing her to face him. "Rule One. You are to address me appropriately when speaking to me! Obviously, you do not listen!" She hiccupped, a mixture of fluids leaking from her eyes and nose as she stared up at him. " _Is that understood?_ "

Between her sobs, a series of wet groans released from the back of her throat as her lips trembled and flexed in the shape of words she could not speak. After a few tries, she managed to position her lame tongue correctly. "Y-yee-eee…sa-saa…sss-err…" She hissed out the jumbled mess of varying sounds that vaguely resembled words. "Yee-sss…sserr." While it was not a definite response, Kakuzu was able to tell what she was trying to stutter out so he accepted it for now.

"Good. That wasn't difficult, was it?" He freed her arm from his bruising grip and she cuddled the limb against her chest, a bright red handprint marring the pale skin. "Now, let us try this again and if you want to be warm tonight, then you better impress me."

"Yee-sss, ser."

…

Kakuzu was not impressed. "Trying" was too polite of a word to describe Zetsu's efforts. They were more like "frantic floundering about" as he instructed her through basic chakra concentration techniques. The miser made an effort to accommodate her with different mediums from leaves to sticks and even dirt but nothing worked. She was the definition of anxiety. He so much as breathed wrong and she would lapse into a nervous breakdown with tears and sniveling. He would have an easier chance at teaching a fish how to breathe air. It had taken all of his minimal self-restraint not to beat his message into the brat's thick head. By evening, no progress had been made, Kakuzu was heavily displeased and Zetsu had cried enough tears to fill one of the countless rivers littering the country. Even Daora was agitated as its relaxation was repeatedly disturbed by the minor's bolting. Once the chilled night air settled over the country, he retreated to the cabin, abandoning Daora to babysit the girl. He also locked the door behind him so she couldn't get inside and have the luxury of sleeping in a comfortable bed out of the cold. She would have to learn, and fast.

Unfortunately, time was not on Kakuzu's side.

…

Time wasn't on Konan's side either.

She had been stranded in Amegakure for two months, three weeks and four days. Originally, she was only supposed to handle a few paid contracts and be in the village for a brief check-up then return to Land of Rivers but tragedy had struck. Due to the heavy rainy conditions of Amegakure, obviously, it made construction difficult and hazardous. Smaller projects which did not demand urgency were only worked upon on Sundays, when the weather was clear, but larger projects required daily attendance to ensure quick build times. This was the case of a two rather massive projects that Pein and Konan had requested and they would perform frequent visits to ensure swift and acceptable progress. During her stay, one of their constructions had crumbled from the showers and killed three workers and done considerable damage. Work was halted as she had to console the families while searching for replacements to resume construction. When she had, she had overstayed her welcome longer than she would care for and was eager to return back to the cabin and check up on Zetsu. Every day that has passed her by, the girl's rate of survival with Kakuzu went down. By now, she was convinced the girl had a better rate of being struck by lightning, twice, then being alive. When the chance to depart presented itself, she took and ran.

After only a few hours' travel, the secluded cabin amongst the thick forest came into sight and Konan could breathe again, but only a little. It was late evening so one was outside except one of Kakuzu's masked creatures that was resting besides the deck. The winged monster ignored her as she passed it by into the cottage. Once inside, she made a quick b-line for the spare bedroom to check on Zetsu's wellbeing. She had purchased her new clothing from a secondhand store she was eager to show her also. However, when she opened the door, the room was void of the teenager. The air smelt stale and a thin coat of dust covered the few pieces of furniture inside, making it obvious she had not been there for a significant amount of time. She scoured the room before checking the rest of the house, including the bathroom with no success. When she entered the basement, Pein greeted her and she asked if he had seen Zetsu to which he had not and her heart collapsed into her stomach. The next second, her face was hot with rage and she charged upstairs to Kakuzu's room.

Kakuzu had just concluded another stressful day of training and barely had the chance to relax when a vehement knocking thundered in his ears. He efficiently guessed who it was and stood with a snarl to answer his guest. He yanked open door, which he had simply duct-taped back on, and was met with a fuming Konan who appeared seconds from pouncing him and disemboweling him with her bare hands.

"Welcome back." Kakuzu greeted stalely.

"Where is Zetsu?" The woman demanded, craning herself up to get in the brunette's concealed face. "I can't find her anywhere. What did you do with her, Kakuzu!?"

"I did nothing with the girl. Did you check outside? That's where I left her."

"Outside?" Konan parroted, her angered expression dissolving as she realized she had not checked outside. She spared him a glare before departing to pursue his claim and he snorted as he retreated back into his room.

Outside, Konan proceeded with the scouring of every bush and tree for Zetsu, even calling her name with no results. After several minutes of unsuccessful searching, she was prepared to stomp back inside and throttle Kakuzu for the girl's real whereabouts when a chirping caught her attention. At first, she confused the adorable noise for Zetsu since that was how the girl communicated before realizing it was Kakuzu's mask that was still seated by the porch. The creature emitted the bird-like sound until she looked at it to which it heaved itself to its tiny legs and waddled off, revealing it had been resting atop the mouth of a hole. She took it as a hint and crouched beside the hole, peering inside and noting it tunneled beneath the cabin like an animal burrow. In the semi-darkness, she caught a glimpse of something too large to be any hibernating mammal curled inside.

"Zetsu?" She called and the object shifted about for a moment before a pair of illuminated, yellow orbs peered back at her. She released the breath she had been holding. It was Zetsu.

"Zetsu." She cooed. The girl wriggled around in the hole before straightening herself and crawling out, greeting her with excited squealing and squeaking of "Ko" as she pounced into the woman's open arms. Konan cradled the teenager, unspeakably relieved to see her alive and in one piece, filth and smell aside. She even felt heavier from healthy weight gain. Perhaps she should have given Kakuzu the benefit of the doubt.

Any current or further compliments towards Kakuzu vanished from her vocabulary, however, when she released the Zetsu from her tight embrace and the dimming sunlight exposed the ugly, dark bruising marring the left side of girl's pale face. It was recent too, as the injury was a foul shade of purple and her cheek and eye swollen. A quick investigation revealed similar marks blanketing her arms also and a particularly alarming handprint across her throat. Konan was mortified. What had happened? Kakuzu. Kakuzu had happened. That bastard had been using the girl as his personal punching bag. She knew this would happen!

"Bastard!" Konan suddenly swore and Zetsu instinctively flinched, taking the uttered curse as being directed at her. "No, no, no. Not you, sweetheart. I'm sorry. Come here, let's get you cleaned up, ok?"

She escorted Zetsu back to the cabin where she spent the evening scrubbing her clean and applying ointment to her bruises and wounds. Afterward, she showcased all the new outfits she had purchased for her, much to Zetsu's audible delight, before putting her to bed. The exhausted teenager passed out the moment her head landed on the unused pillow and Konan quietly stepped out so the girl could sleep, and directly across the hall. Now, it was time to give Kakuzu a piece of her mind.

Kakuzu sighed from the violent banging on his door and glanced at the clock which only fueled his irritation. He stood but before he could answer, the force of the intense knocking caused the flimsy tape to break free and the door collapsed inward. He stared at it before focusing on his female guest who was standing outside, hand still poised for further obnoxious knocking.

"You-"

"Bastard!" Konan shrilled and before Kakuzu could react, the woman was poised in his face yet again. He scowled. This woman had no consideration for one's personal space. "How dare you lay your hands on, Zetsu!"

"How dare I? Simple. The girl disobeyed and I punished her as I saw appropriate." He replied candidly, unaffected with the knowledge he had beaten a defenseless child. He had abandoned his conscious quite a while ago.

"By beating and strangling her!?"

"Yes. You can at least thank me for being kind enough to feed her."

Konan fumed, her teeth nearly cracking from the force which she clenched them but Kakuzu remained unaffected by her animosity. There was nothing she could ever say that would make the man remorseful of his destructive actions towards Zetsu. Her only solution, at this point, was the absolute isolation of the girl from him.

"I'm going to train Zetsu." This triggered a reaction from the brunette as the man refuted the proclamation.

"No. I've spent months training that girl. All you will do is coddle her and undermine everything I've work to achieve with her."

"Maybe coddling her will actually work better than beating her every day!" She argued back. "I'm training her, and that is final, Kakuzu." With that, Konan turned and left to speak to Leader but Kakuzu was hot on her heels.

Leader had been quietly working on the endless mounds of paperwork that constantly plagued his desk when his concentration was rudely shattered as Kakuzu and Konan walked into his office, engaged a heated argument with each other over the tutoring of their newest recruit. The ginger watched, unable to inject a word as everything he attempted to say was buried beneath the barrage of insults being exchanged.

After a solid of this, his patience was eaten up as he inhaled deeply. "Would you kindly hush up!?" Both parties fell silent and Leader dumped his forehead in his hand with a mighty sigh. "What is this about?"

Konan slammed her hands down onto the broken desktop, causing it to jar. "I want to train Zetsu!"

"And why is that, Konan? Kakuzu has been perfectly capable of doing it himself."

"He has been physically assaulting her!"

"Has he?" Her face coloured a frightening red and Leader realized his foolish blunder and quickly scrambled to correct it before he suffered his female partner's wrath. "Kakuzu, I thought I told you to cease putting your hands on her." Kakuzu snorted at the man's bumbling attempt to save himself. Even Konan knew better.

"I refuse to allow him to train her any further. She will die if he does!" Leader sighed, cornered by his furious partner and eager to remove her from his back.

"Very well. I am hereby assigning Zetsu under your care, Konan." Before she could thank him for understanding and being merciful to the poor girl, he resumed the statement. "But when you are not here, she will fall back into Kakuzu's care."

"What!?" She roared, making Leader visibly flinch. She imagined behind the scenes, Nagato suffered an adequate scare.

"Why the hell shuffle the girl between us? It will only complicate things and interrupt her training. It would be best to just leave the girl with me instead of having us trade her like two divorced parents." Kakuzu opined.

"Or she is left with me and does not retrieve training when I am gone." Konan challenged, shooting Kakuzu a dirty look which the man returned with equal ire. Predicting another argument, their superior swiftly stepped in.

"Due to the unpredictability of our situation, Zetsu cannot be left without training while you are gone, Konan, or the awakening of her Mayfly will be delayed for time we cannot spare. Also Kakuzu, according to the contract you signed, it explicitly said you were not to inflict any harm to her. While I will not terminate your position from the Akatsuki, I cannot leave her solely in your care any longer. If you were to accidently do permanent damage to her, it would determent the organization." Leader explained, feeling like a judge to said divorced parents feuding over their single child. "While Konan is present, she will responsible for Zetsu's training. When Kakuzu is present, he will be responsible for her training. I will not negotiate any further on this subject. Now, both of you, please." Leader gestured them both out so he may resume his laboring and after swapping another silent stare down, Kakuzu and Konan went on their way.

…

Zetsu spent the next month underneath the overprotective wing of Konan. The woman resumed teaching her lessons about chakra concentration through the best medium she knew: Origami. During their breaks, she worked with the teenager on improving her impaired screech and reading skills. Within the first week alone, Zetsu had mastered using her chakra to bloom paper flowers and could speak several new phases including greetings and her own name. She could finally pronounce 'Konan' correctly also. By month's end, she was legends ahead in terms of knowledge, proving Konan right that actually praising the girl and rewarding her functioned better then beating her for every little mistake she made. If Pein had just left her in her care, then he could have saved the girl months of torture and mental scarring. At this pace, she imagined the Mayfly should be awakened naturally soon enough and once it was, she would petition for sole responsibility of Zetsu.

It was morning and they were taking a quick break from practicing basic chakra techniques when Pein spoke to Konan telepathically to speak with him. The blunette sighed from her partner's request for her presence and looked at Zetsu who was gleefully folding a paper crane Konan had recently taught her to make.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'll be right back, ok?"

"Ok. Goodbye." Zetsu answered, focused fully on her paper crafting. Konan smiled and raffled the girl's emerald locks before standing and leaving to the cabin to speak personally with Pein.

Kakuzu had been preparing himself for a bounty when he overheard Konan's obnoxious harping from the basement. He easily eavesdropped to her objections of returning to her duties and smirked at the plethora of information as he shouldered his bag, leaving his room to depart for his mission. Konan would soon be gone, which meant the girl would be under his command again and he could make up for the time the woman had wasted by playing mother. She had probably been teaching her female things like sewing or cooking instead of shinobi basics.

Outside, Kakuzu saw Zetsu sitting in the forest clearing, fiddling with paper and surrounded by various origami animals, confirming his suspicions. The juvenile noticed the colossal man looming over her and froze, eyes growing to saucers but she did not run like she normally did. Only stare and after a moment, he snorted, making her flinch.

"Konan will be leaving soon, and I shall be responsible for you again. No more arts and crafts and being cuddled like the toddler you behave as." He said, pointing at the crude paper crane the girl had made. She cradled the precious creation defensively against her chest.

"No."

He quirked an eyebrow the sudden rejection. "No?"

"No." She reaffirmed, the fear flooding her honey orbs now replaced with an apprehensive courage that failed to impress Kakuzu. It actually provoked him. Seems like origami wasn't the only thing Konan had taught her.

"Excuse me?" He grounded out, hunching over to the teenager's eye level and to his honest surprise, she did not shrink back and the close proximity seemed to reinforce her delicate fortitude.

"No!"

Kakuzu lashed out, grasping her thin arm and Zetsu gasped, dropping her paper crane. "You listen here, you little shit! You will not use that tone with me. Speak to me like that again, and I do not care about my fate from either Konan or Leader. I will punish you _, harshly_. Do you understand?"

"No!" She screamed and bore her canines, attempting to embed them in hand that had a death grip on her wrist. He wrenched his hand away before she could brandish it with a new scar and clasped a handful of her grassy hair instead, craning her neck into a painful angle and cocking back his other arm with his hand tightly balled. Before, he had just left a few innocent bruises but after he was finished with her, she would be lucky to have her disgusting little face intact. It would teach both her and Konan never to oppose him. Zetsu stared at the fist and as it descended on her, she squeezed her eyes closed in anticipation of the strike.

A shower of blood and an agonized scream rang out into the empty forest.


	16. Arc 1: Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu's actions results in a life or death situation for Zetsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Blood/Gore (High), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan), Original Character(s) (Ryu)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 15**

It had happened so fast. If one were to blink, they would have missed it.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Kakuzu swung his fist towards Zetsu's face and within inches of her fragile cheek, it had happened. Thick, green, finger-like appendages thrusted forth from the girl's waist, exploding through the skin in a shower of hot blood and flesh and making her squeal out in agonized pain. One of the sharp digits impaled his hand and pierced through bone like an ice pick. It took a split-second for the pain to register in his brain but just as it did, the extensions withered away and shrank back into her body, gone as quick as they came. Time resumed its original pace and Kakuzu recoiled his stabbed limb and the hand which had been embedded in the girl's hair while Zetsu collapsed to the ground. It took another second for the man to realize what had just occurred. The Mayfly…had that been the _Mayfly?_ His questions had to wait, however, when he heard the wet gurgling emitting from the teenager's throat and witnessed the rapidly expanding pool of blood that was engulfing the forest floor and his boots.

Kakuzu swore, ignoring his injured wrist and the blood soaking into his pants as he crouched beside the girl to analyze the damage the Kekkei Genkai had inflicted. He yanked up her formally blue shirt, now painted red, and inhaled sharply from horrific carnage before him. There was nothing left as he found himself staring _through_ her at the blood soaked grass beneath. Her waist, where the Mayfly originated, was mangled in a show of dark gore and blood. It had bisected her.

"Fuck!" Kakuzu spat. He reached forward, threads quickly sprouting free from his stripped wrist and attempting to stitch the girl's two halves back together but it was to no avail. The skin was too tattered and it was like trying to stitch together granules of sand. With this realization, he stood, dumping his bags, and ran back to the cabin. Konan has been negotiating her future residency at Amegakure with Pein when Kakuzu kicked open the basement door and screamed down the stairwell. "I need some fucking help!"

"Kakuzu?" Konan questioned, the urgency of his tone alarming her and a dead weight settled in her stomach. Even without an answer, she had a suspicion exactly what was amiss. "What did you do?"

"The girl activated the Mayfly!"

"What?" Konan and Pein both voiced in unison.

Konan ran up the stairs to confront Kakuzu and paused when observed him. He was panting with his bleeding hand nestled against his abdomen and reeking of the overwhelming scent of sharp copper from the copious amount of blood that stained his slacks. She knew there was too much to be his own. She did not wait to interrogate him further as she wedged herself past him and fled from the cabin, praying that the injuries were merely superficial and appeared more frightful than they actually were. Once outside, her prayers were shattered and she gasped aloud, shielding her mouth as tears flooded her tangerine orbs. Zetsu was sprawled on the ground, convulsing in a pool of her own blood with her jaw slack and eyes rolled back into her head. Kakuzu arrived shortly after and prepared himself for the woman to scream to him, labeling him with the blame for the girl's current condition but to his honest surprise, she did not.

"We need to get her to Amegakure!" Konan proclaimed.

"Amegakure?" Kakuzu responded, bewildered by the suggestion but she did not explain as she was swiftly in action.

She dropped her knees besides Zetsu and extended her arms, her pale skin and Akatsuki outfit turning pure white before peeling off into dozens of sheets of paper. The paper attached itself to the teenager and encased her in a pallid cocoon. As quickly as she could create new layers though, the blood oozed through and after the minimum of a hundred coats later, the crimson substance had been successfully curbed. She levitated the populous swaddle and stood, shuttering from the hot liquid that bathed her legs and squelched inside her sandals.

Zetsu safely enveloped, she focused on Kakuzu who had been idly standing by. "Go inform Leader about what happened. I am taking her to Amegakure."

Kakuzu detested being ordered around by someone of the female persuasion, but just this once he allowed to pass as he grunted in agreement. Konan nodded and her hand flashed into a quick sign which triggered the emerging of two, paper angel wings to sprout from her shoulders, shedding the sheets like feathers. The wings stretched and flapped, lifting her off the grassy floor and hastily, she flew off into the woods, the makeshift cocoon hovering behind and skillfully dodging the towering trees before vanishing into the darkness. Once she was gone, he snorted and lumbered back to the cabin where Leader has been patiently awaiting an explanation about the morning's incident.

"Am I able trust your claim about the Mayfly as truth and not a cover-up for an assault on Zetsu?" Leader inquired when Kakuzu returned, making the brunette bristle at his superior's doubting.

"Yes. The girl awakened her Mayfly and actually _assaulted_ me." Kakuzu rebutted, exhibiting his punctured hand before finally tending to the gaping wound and stitching it closed. He would have to splint it later.

"How severe is her condition?"

"She bisected herself."

Leader nodded, folding his hands atop his desk. "Then critical. We may have lost a vital asset to the Akatsuki due to the unpredictably of her bloodline. It is unfortunate."

"She is worth considerably even in death."

"Yes, but alive she was invaluable to us." Leader reclined in his chair, sighing. "However, there is little that remorse shall do for us. Has Konan tended to her?"

"Yes, she took her to Amegakure." Kakuzu answered, awaiting the gingered man to raise an eyebrow towards the fact that his partner had taken the girl to a restricted territory for emergency care. He had been hearing the two whispering about the village frequently and he did not understand their immense interest in it, especially with Hanzō of the Salamander in command.

"Perfect. I want you to go to Amegakure and report back to me about her condition." The other man said, much to Kakuzu's perplexity.

"Would it be particularly wise for us to go sauntering into a village notorious for its maximum security and dictatorship?"

"You would be surprised how lax the village government has become." Leader vaguely replied. "Now go. I need to know if we must make preparations for negotiations over her remains."

Kakuzu obeyed, concluding his inquiry about Amegakure could be satisfied later as he left the dark office and departed from the cabin. The Land of Rivers and Wetlands were neighbours so the travel to Amegakure was brief, only a few hours even with Kakuzu's casual pace. Eventually, the environment changed from lush and green to mush and brown as the towering forest died into putrid swamp and sunny weather became torrential downpour and dark as night like a light switch. The air was choked by blinding fog but even through the thickness, the glaring spotlights of Amegakure could be seen in the distance, scouring the surrounding area of intruders. Immediately, Kakuzu began to doubt his superior's insistence that the village had suddenly become welcoming of strangers.

Hanzō was notorious, not just for his slaughter of countless shinobi during the Second World War, but also his intense paranoia which resulted in the conversion of Amegakure into an impenetrable stronghold. Not even a fly could get in. There had even been a popular rumour that he had become so afraid of being assassinated, exclusively by a person with Mayfly, that he reinforced the buildings of the entire city with metal exoskeletons to prevent one from phasing through the village. No one was permitted within the village to confirm it so the truth was unknown. The assumption that Konan and Leader held that the government was cozy with visitors was absurd. Even with a dying child in her arms, there was little belief they would allow Konan to enter and particularly an S-Ranked shinobi wanted for escaping prison and the murder of the Takigakure Elders. Perhaps he should just turn back and await Konan's return instead and leave the reporting about the girl to her. She hadn't returned yet, however, so she must have gained entrance. Maybe for once in his life he should trust someone on something they have told him. But just this once.

As Kakuzu trudged through the mud and knee-high weeds closer to the village, he could hear murmuring voices with echoing footsteps through the thick slop and saw the beams of flashlights peering through the mist. A toad croaked loudly in the reeds besides him and scuttled into the murky bog with a splash, causing a pillar of light snapped over to his location, settling on his midsection before gradually scaling up his tall form and shining onto his veiled face. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the glare through his sunglasses.

"Who's there? You are trespassing on Amegakure territory! State yourself!" A voice shouted out. Another person stomped over and another flashlight was rudely shone into Kakuzu's face also. He did respond. "Put your hands up and approach slowly!" He should have trusted his instinct about the village instead of someone else's word. Looks like force was the only option left.

He conformed to the simply demands as he lifted up his arms above his head and stepped forward in three long strides, breaking the distance between himself and the guards. The two Amegakure guards shuffled closer through the veil of smog, momentarily shrinking back at the behemoth of a man standing before them before recomposing themselves and pointing their weapons towards him, jabbing the spears dangerously close to his ribcage.

"State yourself!" The smaller of the two male guards barked like a tiny dog at a dog twice its size. "State yourself or you will be taken into custody!"

"I don't have to state anything." Kakuzu growled, dropping his arms and making the guards poke him again. "I'm looking for a woman. Blue hair. Had a dying child with her."

"You are Kakuzu?" The second guard replied, voice muffled by the rebreather attached to his headgear. It startled Kakuzu with their recognition of him and further more when the two men voluntarily lowered their weapons instead of instantly attacking him. "Angel told us you might be coming." Angel? And what the hell was Konan thinking about slinging his name around like that? Did she want him to be arrested again? And again, Angel?

"Angel told us to escort you to the hospital." The tinier guard said, shaking Kakuzu's uninjured hand. "Anyone in alliance with God and Angel are welcomed into Amegakure." God and Angel? The hell were these two babbling about!?

The rebreather man withdrew a two-way radio that was tucked in his vest pocket. "Host Guard Tower, this is Perimeter Patrol. Open the village gates. A special guest of God and Angel has arrived."

"Roger that." The radio crackled back.

There was spine-tingling screeching that rang out as the steel gates steadily chugged open and a waterfall of rainwater poured off them. The two guards herded Kakuzu backwards as the doors yawned open outwards, belching out a wave of hot air from the grinding gears that dissolved the enclosing fog and revealing the colossal metal walls that enveloped the village. A floodlight focused on them, following along as the guards escorted their welcomed guest into the sheltered village before veering away as the doors shrieked back closed behind them. Inside, Kakuzu was able to confirm that everything and more that he heard overheard about Amegakure was true.

The village was entirely industrial as every building as far as the eye could see was an ugly hybrid of rock and steel and even the ground beneath their feet was of rock and plates of metal that clanged noisily as they were stepped upon. Large ducts lined the streets to drain away the copious amounts of water that rained down constantly and the people that walked about were clothed in heavy, plastic raincoats with umbrellas and a few with rebreathers. Kakuzu pursued the two men as they wondered through narrow alleys and wet roads towards the hospital they had been instructed to take him to, tucking his long, brown hair beneath his leather coat to save it from the moisture. In the middle of the village he spied a massive structure, taller than any other building in the process of being built as it was encompassed with wooden platforms and tall ladders. Carpenters were currently working regardless of the foul weather, heaving up pallets of slabs of steels with pulleys and pounding them into place, their hammering resonated to the roads far below. On one side of the bizarre architecture appeared to be the casting of a demonic face.

"We are here." Kakuzu stared at his two convey, having been too interested in the building that hadn't noticed they were at their destination. The hospital was large but dingy, just another steel structure which colour matched the dark clouds that permanently plagued the sky with tiny, circular windows that did not permit peeking inside.

"Thank you." He grunted, the acknowledgment was void though the friendly guards did not notice as they nodded.

"You are most welcomed." The smaller man shook his hand again, accidently grasping his wounded hand this time and making him cringe behind his mask. "God Bless you, and God Bless the Akatsuki."

Kakuzu did not return his odd blessings and the two men took it as their cue to leave as they bowed politely before walking off back to their posts at the gate. Once they were gone, he checked his hand to ensure the stitching did not tear then entered the dreary clinic to search for Konan. Inside, it was brighter than it outside as the walls sported a pure white paintjob with pictures of various landscapes and was brightly lit. There was a cute nurse behind the front desk that was scribbling away on a notepad, not noticing Kakuzu as he advanced towards her. When she failed to divert her attention to him after several seconds, he impatiently pounded his fist down onto the brass bell on the counter, making her flinch and quickly straighten up to face him.

"C-Can I help you, sir?"

"I'm looking for a woman. Blue hair. Brought in a dying child."

"Oh yes. Angel. You must be Kakuzu." Again with Angel and again with her telling everyone about the man with one of the top three bounties in the world. "She is in the Pediatric Wing. It is on the third floor. Just walk down the hallway and you should find the elevator. Once on the third floor, the waiting room will be on your left."

"Thank you." He left before she could start gibbering about angels and gods also as he followed her directions to the elevator and took it to the third floor.

Once on the third floor, he took the left and walked into the waiting room which walls were a cluserfuck of bright colours and hideous, stenciled animals, signifying he was in the correct place. The room was empty except one person who was slumped in the corner, chin propped up on her palm and a troubled expression disgracing her beautiful face. Even the paper flower in her hair appeared wilted. It was Konan.

"You came." She said and sat up as Kakuzu walked towards her. Her old uniform and pants were crusted with dry blood like his.

"Obviously you knew I was since you told everyone to expect me, Konan." He grunted back as he took a seat across from her, having to cram his sizable frame into the inadequate chair. "Or should I say, Angel?"

She spared him a small smile at the nickname. "Oh yes. I am also known as Angel in Amegakure."

"Why Angel? Who the fuck is God? How do people know of the Akatsuki? Why the fuck are you handing out my name? Why the hell is Amegakure suddenly alright with people waltzing in and out? Especially a S-Ranked criminal?" The paper wielder's smile fluttered with the barrage of highly languaged questions.

"Those are all good questions, Kakuzu, but they are not relevant to our current situation." She softly said. "Aren't you curious about Zetsu? That is why you are here, isn't it?"

The tanned man inhaled sharply at her skillful dodging of his inquiry but bit his tongue as he knew it would do no good to yell at her for answers, specifically in the middle of a hospital. "Fine. How's the girl?"

"I don't know. They rushed her into surgery immediately after I handed her over but I have heard nothing since. Only a nurse giving me paperwork to sign but that was hours ago."

"Hmph. Doesn't matter to me. She dies or lives. Either way, she is worth a handsome price."

Konan grimaced at the horrendous comment. "Is that what a human life is worth to you, Kakuzu? Money?"

"Yes, because everything is fleeting. Friends, family, love, life. But money is forever." Kakuzu knew better than anyone the truth of that statement.

"Money cannot buy happiness."

"No, but it can rent a hell of a lot of it."

"And what worth will money be when you die?"

"Even Hell runs on money." By her expression, he had successfully trumped the woman and smirked when she heaved a frustrated sigh and twisted around in her seat to face away from him.

The two sat in silence as the hours slowly ticked by and the day darkened into night. A few parents arrived with their sick, young children who proceeded to curse Kakuzu with a nagging migraine when they ran around screaming and playing with obnoxiously loud toys. A few even sneezing on him. Thankfully, they were gone as soon as they came and before he could either tell their parents to hush the child up or he would silence them himself, forever. Konan hadn't budged from her chair as she stared listlessly at the cartoon animals on the wall and had chewed all her manicured nails into unsightly stubs. By the eighth hour, there was no further information on Zetsu's condition and his minuscule patience had been eaten away. He was about to leave and exclaim he would return after his mission, when a pudgy nurse waddled out from a pair of swinging doors, gazing at a clipboard in her fat hand.

"Are the parents of…Zetsu, here?"

Konan shot up with the mention of the girl's name. "Yes. Yes, we here." Kakuzu sighed, sinking back down into his chair and stroking his throbbing temples. Thank the Gods.

"O-Oh, Angel. You are the mother of this child?" The nurse stuttered, slightly flushed from being face to face with an idol.

"Yes." Konan answered shortly, eagerly trying to get the conversation moving along pass the unnecessary. "How is she?"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you. The doctor just sent me to tell you that the surgery has finished. He is finishing up and should be out soon to speak to you personally."

"Oh, thank you…"

The nurse giddily scurried out and Konan slumped with a deep sigh, propping her chin back in her hand as she went back to observing the crayon scribbles on the wall. Kakuzu snorted and checked the clock. It was midnight. Looks like that bounty would have to wait another day. Right now all he wanted was to confirm the girl's life or death, then go back to the cabin to rest. Thankfully, the wait for the doctor wasn't nearly as agonizing as thirty minutes later, a nerdy-looking man in a white coat exited into the waiting room.

"Ah yes, are the parents of Zetsu here?"

Konan perked up. "Yes." The doctor walked over to greet her with his hand extended, but stopped mid-step, staring at Kakuzu with Kakuzu staring right back.

"K-Kakuzu?"

Konan flinched when Kakuzu spontaneously erupted into genuine laughter, the sound foreign originating from him. "Well if isn't Ryu Hitoshi?" Kakuzu stood and yanked the shorter male into a semi-embrace, thumping his hand hard enough against his back that it shook him and made his thick-rimmed glasses threaten to titter off his narrow nose.

"Kakuzu, I thought you were…well, I didn't know what to think! You look amazing!" The doctor, Ryu Hitoshi, babbled and stepped back to admire the man. "Certainly not the wrinkled, grey-haired old man I saw last!"

Kakuzu smirked. "The benefits of Kinjutsu."

Konan cleared her throat, interrupting the reunion. "You two know each other?"

"Ryu was a doctor of the prison I served at in Takigakure. We became close after he was assigned to my care."

"Ah, great. Now what about Zetsu?"

"Oh yes," Dr. Ryu said, pushing his taped glasses back onto his nose as he read the clipboard in his hand. "We repaired what we were able to and thankfully, none of her organs were damaged and neither was her vertebral column so the majority of the damage was external. However, due to the trauma and the amount of chakra our medics had to use, she has fallen into a coma." Konan gasped, muttering 'oh my god' and her eyes became hazy with unshed tears. "We have her on blood transfusions and under twenty-four-hour surveillance."

"Will she survive?"

Dr. Ryu sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Angel, but I cannot not say. Due to the severity of her condition, anything could result badly for her. Including an infection or reaction to the blood transfusions. As it is, she has a less than a twenty-percent chance of surviving the night, and the chance barely increasing for the week. I'm sorry again."

Konan wiped her eyes, the moisture smearing her lavender eye shadow. "Can I see her?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow visitors due to the threat of contamination."

She nodded and clasped his hand in hers. "I understand. Thank you, doctor." Dr. Ryu returned the gesture, struggling to remain stoic in response to the woman's distress. "I'm going to return to the Land of River and report back about Zetsu. I'll be back tomorrow to check up on her." Suddenly, she turned toward Kakuzu, orbs of fireballs ablaze through the veil of wetness. "I hope you're happy, Kakuzu. You tortured that poor girl to her death. The money will never repay the damage you've done."

Kakuzu did not grant her the pleasure of a reply and Konan left, shoulders trembling as she walked off. Dr. Ryu sighed, scratching his cheek in a ruse as he mopped away the tears welled on his eyelashes. "I hate this job sometimes. What was this girl's relation to Angel and God?" There were those trigger words again that Kakuzu was beginning to loath.

"Just a stray brought in from the rain."

"Oh, I see. Well, it's been hours since I last ate. Care to join me to my office? We can catch up."

Kakuzu agreed and followed his old comrade as Dr. Ryu steered him towards his office which was on the opposite side of the wing, away from the rooms of sickly and sniveling children. Once inside, he locked the door for privacy and sat behind his desk while Kakuzu sat across from him with his arms and legs crossed.

"So, when did you become involved with the Akatsuki?" The doctor asked as he scrounged up a cucumber sandwich and canteen of coffee from his suitcase.

"A year ago. How the hell does everyone know about us? I thought we were just a burgeoning mercenary group." Kakuzu grunted, kindly objecting when his friend offered him a cup of cold coffee.

"Certainly not here. The Akatsuki was the organization led by God and Angel that freed Amegakure from Hanzō."

Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose from the nonchalant remark. "So many fucking questions about that statement. Who is God? Konan is Angel, but why? The hell happened to Hanzō?"

"I'm surprised you are unfamiliar with this. I would have thought that they would have told you about their achievements considering you are now a member of the Akatsuki. Nevertheless, I can explain it," Dr. Ryu took a bite of his sandwich and washed it down before beginning the recent history of Amegakure.

"At the eve of the Third World War, an organization known as the Akatsuki emerged. At first they were focused on helping the sick and poor but eventually they started a Civil War to overthrow Hanzō. Hanzō responded with slaughtering their members and the organization disappeared. Then one day, two survivors of the Akatsuki reappeared and assassinated Hanzō and all his associates. They were labeled as God and Angel and have been governing Amegakure ever since." The explanation stunned Kakuzu as his mind reeled to comprehend it. If that was all true, then it explained everything. The casual security of Amegakure, the fact that everyone was cozy with a fugitive walking freely among them, Konan and Leader's interest in the village and Konan's pet name. Of course, there were still burning questions too like the largest of them all: How?

"Why the hell have I not heard of this in the papers? Hanzō's assassination would make the world headlines." Kakuzu commented, flabbergasted.

Dr. Ryu shrugged, adjusting his oversized glasses again. "Amegakure is a very secretive village. I did not know of Hanzō's death until my employment at the hospital."

"Speaking of which, how the hell did you leave Takigakure? Was your involvement in my "escape", ever discovered?"

Dr. Ryu wiped his hands on the inside of his coat as he finished his sandwich. "No, I wasn't. After your "death", I insisted on your autopsy to confirm your matter of death but the Warden was so eager to dispose of your body, he immediately wheeled you off to the morgue. After you escaped and killed the Elders that night, an investigation was launched but due to the Warden's actions that day, I was ruled as an innocent party in the matter. Afterwards, I submitted my resignation at the prison and left Takigakure. I studied to be a pediatrician and came to Amegakure."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Kakuzu cleared his throat, mindlessly scrapping his fingers through his hair. "Ryu, I'm sorry for lying to you. If you knew my true intentions, you would have never assisted me in my escape."

Dr. Ryu chuckled with an awkward smile. "Truth be told; I probably wouldn't have either. I preferred your story about wanting to die off the prison grounds. It was more appealing then knowing it was because you planned to assassinate the Elders." There was another period of quiet between the two men and pediatrician decided to abandon the topic in favour of something else. "So, that girl. A nurse mentioned to me that she was Angel's daughter? Is that true?"

"No, she isn't. She's just some brat I rescued from a dump."

Dr. Ryu quirked a brown eyebrow as he sipped at his beverage. "You rescued her?"

Kakuzu snorted, realizing how poorly worded that was. "Not voluntarily. She was supposed to a black check for the organization but certain parties have gotten too attached to her." Dr. Ryu experienced a mixture of unsettlement and being unruffled with Kakuzu's proclamation about the girl's worth. Afterall, the man had single-handedly run the prison financially from behind the scenes. Money was his passion. But, a selling a child? He had also heard Angel mentioned something about 'torture'.

"She must be special then."

"She has the Mayfly." Kakuzu said casually.

Dr. Ryu spat out his mouthful of coffee and Kakuzu scowled as he wiped droplets of the fluid from his shades. "The Mayfly? I thought that Kekkei Genkai went extinct during the Second World War due to complications with the bloodline. It mutated into a type of brain cancer?"

Kakuzu scoffed. "You actually believed that?"

"Well, I'm a doctor. Not a conspiracy theorist." The other brunette explained, wiping up the splattered liquid from his desk. "Where did you find her?"

"Kusagakure. Amegakure isn't the only village with its secrets."

"That would explain a lot. The failed activation of a Mayfly would correspond with her dramatic injury. I was baffled how a child could be bisected internally instead of externally." Dr. Ryu uttered, recalling his memory of old medical texts that spoke about injuries associated with the botching of a Kekkei Genkai. "Was she the only one?"

"She is now. There was another that attacked the Iwagakure encampment and was killed by their captain in a suicide attack."

"The Old Kusagakure Massacre? That was the real cause of it?"

"Yes. You should stop reading the news. Reality is crazier than fiction."

"It really is." There was a high-pinched dinging and Dr. Ryu plucked his beeper from his belt buckle, pushing up his glasses as he read the text. "I'm sorry, Kakuzu, but I must get back to work. One of my patients is experiencing projectile vomiting." Kakuzu cringed at the delightful image.

"It's alright. I am glad to have spoken to you again, Ryu. I did not expect to see you again after my escape from Takigakure." Kakuzu stood, his back cracking audibly from the cramped chair he had spent the last half-an-hour in.

"Well we will be seeing a lot more of each other now that you aligned with the Akatsuki. It'll be like the prison days again." Dr. Ryu lightly joked, actually earning a bemused smirk from his convicted felon friend.

"Indeed. I'll be back again soon to retrieve the girl's body." The two men shook hands, the smaller male wincing when his hand was crushed in the other man's unyielding grasp.

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I never wish ill on my patients."

' _Hopefully it does,'_ Kakuzu thought as he left the office. Otherwise, he would have to pray for the chance the girl survived physically, but not mentally due to the Mayfly.


	17. Arc 1: Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mayfly results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan), Original Character(s) (Ryu)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 16**

Twenty percent rate of survival was too low for Zetsu. She withstood to the next day, then to the end of the week. Then to the next week and next. Soon enough it had been a whole month and she breathed on.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had been passing the time with back-to-back missions for pocket change. The war was winding to an end and everyone was desperate to snuff out someone to win the war so work was plenty. Between each mission, he would visit Dr. Ryu in Amegakure to converse and inquire about the girl's condition only to be told each time that she had survived another day or week but remained comatose. He also spoke about Konan's unwavering devotion as she frequented the hospital to speak with Dr. Ryu and spent hours in the waiting room in case Zetsu awoke. It had been a few weeks into the new month and Kakuzu returned to the cabin to report back about his latest success when Leader informed him about the "good" news.

"Ah, Kakuzu. You finished at the perfect time. Zetsu has awoken from her coma." Leader said when Kakuzu descended into his basement office. Kakuzu's response was a curt inhale.

"You're kidding me."

"No, I am not. Konan has refused to update me further on her condition so I need you to go to the hospital and report back. She may have survived the Mayfly but her mental state is a mystery." This friendly reminder perked up Kakuzu attitude. It was true. She may be physically alive but brain dead. There was a still an impressive percentage in his favour.

"Very well." He tossed his payment on Leader's desk before leaving. The envelop collided with the paperwork on the wooden surface and causing it to explode across in the office like a bomb filled with paper shrapnel.

The ginger sighed, dumping his pierced chin in his hand as his work fluttered around him. "I need to start filing everything."

…

Kakuzu journeyed to Amegakure where the Perimeter Patrol, partners Takeshi and Satoshi, addressed him by name like old friends and shook his hand as they guided him through village gates. Due to his affiliation with the Akatsuki, he had become a local celebrity overnight and residents would bless him as he walked past. When he arrived at the hospital, the nurse stationed at the front desk smiled and politely welcomed him before informing him she would message Dr. Ryu. He thanked her and proceeded to the Pediatric Wing. He stepped into the abominable children's waiting room that was teeming with unruly, sick brats today and their neglectful parents. Mercibly, only a moment later, Dr. Ryu exited through the swinging doors of the patient hall to greet him.

"Hello Kakuzu. Here for the newest updates on Zetsu?" Dr. Ryu asked as they shook hands, Kakuzu careful not to squeeze his friend's fragile hand too tightly.

"Yes. I heard the girl was awake."

"Ah yes. She recovered from her coma a few days ago." Ryu gestured Kakuzu along and the other man pursued closely behind as the doctor escorted them out of the waiting room and to his office for privacy during their conversation.

"Has she been conscious?" Kakuzu questioned once they were safely in his cramped office and away from prying eyes and perked ears.

"In and out. We have her under heavy sedatives for pain and infection so she awakens for a few minutes at a time before falling back unconscious."

"Has she spoken or behaved out while conscious?"

"No, none of that. Just an opening of the eyes and a whine then out again." The younger brunette snapped his fingers to illustrate.

Kakuzu sniffed, adjusting himself in his seat so not to apply too much pressure onto the porcelain masks on his back. "I see." That was discouraging. No inhuman screeching or teeth gnashing yet.

"Due to the risk, we are not having medics operate further on her and leaving the rest of the healing to her body," The pediatrician expounded further though his guest had checked out at this point, uninterested in her physical wellbeing. "It is progressing well, but she may require skin grafts to encourage it."

"How soon will she be removed from the pain killers?" Kakuzu insisted, confusing the doctor.

"Err—I cannot say. After the first reconstructive surgery, the dosage will be lessened but she will require them until she is completely healed and maybe even afterwards depending on how lasting the trauma is." Ryu paused, realizing Kakuzu was hinting at something he refused to say outright. "Is there a reason you are so interested in her being conscious and coherent?"

Kakuzu sighed. "Do you happen to know anything about the Mayfly, outside of rumours and myths, Ryu?"

"Actually, after you informed me about Zetsu's bloodline, I did research on the Kekkei Genkai." Ryu proudly piped but the moment that escaped his lips, the realization struck him of exactly what Kakuzu had been so concerned about. "Oh, I understand now. You are curious if the Mayfly has infected the chakraways of her brain?"

"Yes."

Ryu sighed. He had never thought about the mentality threat of the Mayfly when healing the physical effect of it. "It is impossible to know until she is conscious. I can request the medics to examine her chakraways for infection but the answer wouldn't be definite."

"It's alright. I'll just check in regularly." Kakuzu dismissed begrudgingly with a heavy sigh through his bandana. This damned girl was more of a burden than she had any right to be. Every day she inconvenienced him only raised the price he intended to sell her off for. Soon there wouldn't be enough money in the world.

"Very well. Would you like to see Zetsu? Her condition, I mean. Angel—err, Konan, is currently with her. She hasn't left her side since she recovered from her coma." Ryu blabbered, pushing his oversized glasses back up the bridge of his nose. His endearments were not shared.

Kakuzu threw his shoulders into a half-hearted shrug. "Sure, why the hell not? See how badly she butchered herself."

"Alright. I have appointments to attend to so I cannot join you. We relocated Zetsu from ICU into a normal room. She's in room 344. It's down the hall, to the right and on the right-hand side." The two men bid each other farewell and Dr. Ryu left to tend to his young patients while Kakuzu followed the directions to Zetsu's room.

When he found it, the door was cracked open to which he silently snooped inside. Konan was present as Ryu said, stationed at Zetsu's bedside with her back facing the door so she did not see him. The woman perked up when the door creaked behind her and turned, expecting Dr. Ryu or a nurse but her expression soured when she saw Kakuzu bowing through the short doorway.

"What are you doing here, Kakuzu?" Konan barked, glancing at the button to call a nurse and have them contact security to escort Kakuzu out. She did not want him within even a single foot of Zetsu right now.

"Came to check on the girl." He answered, ignoring the intensity of her eagle-like gaze as he observed the bedridden girl from a safe distance. Zetsu was cocooned in the fluid-stained hospital-issued blanketing and buried beneath miles of thick tubing and wiring which plugged into every patch of visible flesh with a breathing tube lodged in her throat. The petite teenager appeared even smaller surrounded by the massive pieces of equipment which monitored her heartbeat and vital signs and assisted her breathing. She looked horrible, without a doubt worse beneath the covers, but alive. _Unbelievably_ alive.

"You've seen her, now leave. She's alive and survived the Mayfly so you can't sell her off. She's of no interest to you anymore." Konan hissed and firmly pointed a manicured finger towards the door, the control panel to call for assistance in her other hand with her thumb poised over the large, red button.

"Not yet." He muttered beneath his breath but blunette's acute hearing easily caught it—though he had not bothered to hide it.

"What do you mean by _that_?" She retaliated.

"She's alive, but she has not yet survived the Mayfly." He said, crossing his arms as he stared at the unconscious teenager over the rims of his sunglasses. "When she awakens, she'll be nothing but the empty-headed feral she has always been." The insult was the last straw for Konan.

"Get out." She seethed and stood abruptly from her seat causing the chair to tumble over into the hospital machinery with a noisy crash, her teeth gritted and hands balled into fists. "Get out!"

Kakuzu obeyed willingly so she could not manually escort him out and was gone before security and nurses had arrived in response of Konan's screaming and frantic pressing of the call button.

…

After the incident at the hospital, Konan avoided Kakuzu like a walking plague and he did the same to her, occupying himself with the swiftly piling commissions for the Akatsuki—which she did not bother to help with as she was too busy playing mother in his personal opinion. It was three whole weeks before he returned to the cabin from a practicality long mission. It was before the break of dawn and his exhausted mind was focused on filling his grumbling stomach and resting his head when he entered the house just as Konan was leaving and the two nearly collided. Both instantly stepped back, exchanging silent leering for a solid minute before Kakuzu broke the tension between them when noticing the gift bags in the female's hands. They were from a children's store.

"Hmph. Have my predictions about the girl become truth and now you are selling off her clothes?" He inquired with a smirk, pointing at one of the ugly, pink bags which Konan shielded behind her back so he could not see the contents.

"No, they're presents. You were wrong actually, Kakuzu. She woke up and is the happy and sweet child she was before all of this happened. She just had her first surgery to repair the damage that _you_ caused."

He snorted. "Tch. Impossible."

"It became possible." She rebutted quietly before rudely shouldering past him and stomping out the front door.

Kakuzu scowled as he watched the woman stormed into the dense, enveloping forest. "We'll see."

After recharging with a meal and nap, Kakuzu walked to Amegakure and had arrived in the hospital just as Dr. Ryu had concluded a simple appointment with a single mother and her toddler son when his friend entered the ward. He bid his young patient goodbye with a friendly ruffling of the hair and once the two walked off to the front reception desk, he turned to Kakuzu who had been quietly waiting behind him.

"Good morning, Kakuzu." Ryu greeted him in his default, cheery manner as he adjusted his glasses.

"Morning. I'm here about the girl. I heard a little rumour that she is awake and 'happy and sweet?'" Kakuzu said, skipping the bullshit about his current presence. Immediately, Ryu's smile faltered and that facial gesture alone answered Kakuzu's burning question.

"Yes, about that. It is true but—"

Before he could conclude his sentence, there was a loud crash and everyone in the adjacent waiting room jumped out of their skins including Ryu which caused his glasses to plunge off his face and clatter to the ground. Those capable of seeing stared at Kakuzu in mute shock as he stood with his fist embedded in the green wall beside him, the impact having been strong enough to leave a large, crater-like hole and crack the foundation to the ceiling.

"You're _fucking_ kidding me."

"I'm sorry, Kakuzu." Ryu apologized as he crouched down and blindly scrambled for his missing spectacles.

The apology did not soothe Kakuzu. His short temper had been triggered and the white-hot flames were roaring as he shoved his fist deeper into the wall making the hole expand in size and pieces of dry wall crumbled away. It was _impossible_. _Impossible._ That little brat _survived_ _again?_ The odds of survival had been astronomical. She had a smaller chance of being struck by lightning _twice_ and winning a lottery than living through this. And yet, the Mayfly—notorious for maiming its hosts and rending them into archaic man-eaters had failed to kill her not just _once_ , but _twice_? _Impossible!_

Ryu managed to locate his glasses and straightened back up while cramming them back into his narrow nose. "Kakuzu, please—" His feeble pleading fell on deaf ears, however, when response was a new hole being punched into creation and the doctor wisely stepped backwards out of range of any swinging fists. He knew from personal experience it was better to let Kakuzu vent his anger than interfere. Save himself a broken jaw and/or worse. Parents snatched up their crying children and hurried out with nurses and other doctors trying to stop them with fickle reinsurance.

Kakuzu unleashed the rest of his frustration as he expanded the second chasm to mirror its processor. This little _shit_ just costed him an _unsurmountable_ capital. All she had to do was either _die_ or be _lamed_ by the Mayfly and she did _neither._ Two of the simplest things ever and she failed to do both. If she did not master the Mayfly, then what would they do with her? They couldn't sell her now. They would have to dump her back in Kusagakure and everything which happened would be _worthless._ _Worthless!_

Kakuzu took deep, even breathes to calm his scorching nerves and ran his fingers through his long locks, the metaphorical red slowly fading from his vision as his rationality returned. He extracted his throbbing fist from the wall and loudly cracked his knuckles while analyzing the damage he had inflicted to the powerless surface. It was tame, by his own standards, and he conjured it up to being behind on his sleep schedule. Otherwise, the entire floor would have been demolished into dust with people included. Once the last of his hearts steadied, he refocused on Dr. Ryu, the lanky man having scurried back out of the danger zone and was wearily staring from the safety of a room doorway.

Kakuzu said nothing—he had nothing to say and instead, he marched away towards the elevator in a huff, shouldering a nurse on the way out and knocking her down with a yelp and a flutter of paperwork. When he reached the automatic exit, he jammed his thumb against the downward button so hard that it was embedded into the wall with a crackling. The elevator stalled as the simple malfunction rendered it into emergency shutdown and with a snarl, the brunette resorted to stomping off to the stairwell as his method of leaving instead, toppling another nurse unfortunate enough to cross his path.

"Kakuzu, wait! We took a MRI scan—" Dr. Ryu called after, waving about a folder but had been too slow to approach him about it as he had already gone, leaving behind downed staff and hurricane of paperwork in his wake. "—of Zetsu's brain…and I have the results…here…" The man's timid voice trailed away into a sigh as she stared at the stained binder in his hand.

After a moment, he directed his attention to the pulverized wall beside him and analyzed the damage, wincing when calculating the cost of repair which would eat a decent chunk out of his paycheck. That aside, since he could not share the news with Kakuzu, there was one other person who would be interested in the girl's results and with that, he walked away from the disarray left by his companion's wrath.

…

Konan had been sharing all her newest purchases with Zetsu, who had just roused from her sedative-induced stupor for the first time today, when there was a polite rapping on the door.

"Come in." She granted and the door creaked open with Dr. Ryu poking his head inside and the woman perked up at the friendly face. "Oh, Dr. Ryu, hello."

"Hello, hello," Dr. Ryu stepped inside the room, pausing when seeing Zetsu conscious and gleefully burrowing into a gift bag, flinging aside colourful paper stuffing. "Oh goodness, look whose awake. Hello, Zetsu. How are you feeling today, darling?"

"Good." Zetsu chirped, too invested in her unboxing to spare a glance at the doctor. She withdrew a teddy bear from the package which adorned a velvet, pink bow around its neck. With an elated squeak, she hugged the stuffed animal before setting it aside along with the rest of her presents which included other plush animals and new clothing.

He smiled at the precious girl. It had only been a single day since her reconstruction surgery but she was bright and bushy-tailed. Perhaps due to the influx of presents and attention but regardless, he believed she was finally on the road to recovery after such traumatic episode. She had another procedure to repair the rest of the damage inflicted by the Mayfly but once everything was said and done, she should be in perfect health—minus a few problems. Speaking of which—

"Oh, yes. I have the results of Zetsu's MRI."

"Oh, that's perfect." Konan said. She decreased the volume to children's show playing on the television installed on the ceiling so the doctor could speak, much to Zetsu's vocal displeasure.

Dr. Ryu walked to the illuminator installed on the wall and affixed one of the brain scans onto it, the right-hand side view. Konan relocated her chair on the opposite side of the bed for a better view and even Zetsu temporarily detached herself from the singing puppets on the screen to watch in mild curiosity.

"This is Zetsu's brain. These trails are the chakra pathways," The pediatrician established, tracing the thin, white highlights on the photograph with a pen which spiderwebbed everywhere through the muscle. He then pointed at the traces of dark matter which littered the majority of the veins. "This is the infection caused by the Mayfly."

"There's so much of it." Konan gasped, staring at the black dots on the image which replicated mold. Zetsu quickly lost interest with the techno-babble and returned to her simple programing, humming along with the obnoxious tune playing.

"Yes, there is, but, it has not restricted any passages—yet." The brunette responded lamely while fixing his glasses again, attempting to inject a little optimism towards the dire situation.

"Is there anything that can be done for it? Not antidote it, but stop it from worsening?"

"Well, thankfully, we have options. I've been reviewing the paperwork you generously forwarded to me about Zetsu and the Mayfly. Thank you again," She smiled in response to the gratitude. "Per documentation, the doctor originally responsible for Zetsu's supervision produced a chemical cocktail capable of suppressing the Mayfly's pollution. Unfortunately, it was an experimental drug with dramatic side effects."

"I read about it," She testified, pausing to gaze at Zetsu, sparing a grieved smile at the teenager who was currently playing with another one of her new toys while a commercial break interrupted her show. "If possible, I would like that she not be subjected to that drug again."

"That is absolutely fine with me—and like I said, we have options." He reassured her immediately. "Unfortunately, because the Mayfly mutations progressed so quickly and the bloodline was eradicated quicker, little studies of it were done and fewer were published. But, from a glance, it behaves like a cancer—so we can try chemotherapy. It would be similar to the treatment she received before, but without the tragic side effects in reference of memory loss and stunted mental growth."

Dr. Ryu halted to analyze the scan again and think it over further while chewing on the cap of his pen. "We could also perform a procedure known as 'Chakra Dialysis'—clean the sick chakra. However, it would be a weekly procedure to prevent further pollution." After another minute of further evaluation, he heaved a defeated sigh before focusing back on his patient and her self-appointed caretaker. "Either route chosen shall not be smooth. She'll need routine appointments and screening on weekly basis to assure her Mayfly cannot escalate outside 'safe' levels." Safe being used as a relatively loose term.

Konan mirrored his discouraged sigh. "I did not expect it to be. But, we have to do something. I cannot just let her deteriorate to this heinous bloodline." She granted Zetsu a sympathetic look as she spoke. Her olive-coloured hair was growing out again, mimicking an untrimmed lawn and she swiped her hand across the unkempt locks to straighten them, making the girl whine as it tickled her and causing a weak smile to grace the woman's face.

"And she will not. I promise you, Angel—err, Konan, I will do everything I can to help Zetsu." Dr. Ryu said, cradling the folder in his hand against his chest to illustrate his unwavering devotion to both females.

The blunette's smile widened. "Thank you, Dr. Ryu."

"You're welcome. At this moment, however, we should concentrate on supporting her through this current recovery." He walked to the hospital bed and gently grasped Zetsu's left arm from its sling to analyze it. Her forearm had been chosen as the first site of donation for her sundered waist and had been thoroughly stripped of skin, leaving a hideously raw, red gaping wound which had a transparent dressing plastered atop it to shield it from infection. "It is too premature to consider the first reconstructive surgery a success as it takes a full thirty-six hours to confirm if the graft has been taken. But obviously, the pain relievers are helping as she is experiencing little to no discomfort with both areas of extraction and the implantation site thus far which is encouraging."

Predictably, Zetsu whimpered as he investigated the delicate extremity and immediately, he released her arm in response, petting the girl's grassy head to console her. "We'll keep her under close observation for the next week and if there are no complications and the healing in on agenda, then we'll schedule the final surgery within the following week. But, the details can be explained later. I'm positive I've rambled on enough for you both today. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" He smiled at his patient, ruffling her hair more.

"Yes." She voiced, banishing her intrusive hand from her hair which was being tangled from his tousling. Dr. Ryu laughed in response with Konan echoing him.

"Thank you again, Dr. Ryu." Konan reiterated, firmly shaking hands with the physician as he walked to the door for his leave.

"You do not have to keep thanking me, Konan. This is my job, afterall." He answered, returning her generous gesture before turning back towards Zetsu and waving. "Goodbye, Zetsu. I'll be back tonight to check on you again. Don't have too much fun, alright?"

"Yes." Came Zetsu's mechanical response, her golden orbs glued to the colourful animations on the television.

Dr. Ryu chuckled and left the room. However, pausing outside the door when a memory flickered in his brain and instantly he reversed back into the doorway, correcting his cumbersome glasses while he stared at Konan. "Oh yes, Kakuzu was here."

The origamitress uncharacteristically scowled in return from the mention of her second uttermost disliked person. "Was he here about Zetsu?"

"Yes. I explained her situation to him. Attempted to—in the least…"

"Took it well, did he?" She inquired sarcastically.

"Yes, very well. My upcoming paycheck shall be spent repairing the wall in the waiting room which has been punched apart." He recounted, sighing. Rent may be late this month.

"Just a single wall? _Very well_."


	18. Arc 1: Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Zetsu's survival of the Mayfly, training beneath Kakuzu resumes to harness the bloodline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Mild), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 17**

In the upcoming months, the conclusion of the Third World War was in the horizon.

In rebellion for The Old Kusagakure Massacre, the Third Tsuchikage ordered a thousand shinobi in massive invasion towards Konohagakure. However, the death march was intercepted and exterminated by a single man known as Namikaze Minato, crippling Iwagakure's military indefinitely. Days later, the previously rumoured peace treaty between the nations was reluctantly signed by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, terminating further conflict. Sunagakure abruptly retired from the war due to unanticipated disaster of their leadership when the Third Kazekage and his decorated subordinate, monikered Akasuna-no-Sasori, vanished mysteriously into the night. Sunagakure's battered army was withdrawn from the battlefield and repurposed into an expansive search party that scoured the whole country in desperation. However, attempts thus far had been futile and whisperings of treachery quickly circulated.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki was flourishing. Warmongers were clamouring for mercenary services and flocked towards the organization for their cheaper business. Even Sunagakure had petitioned them for assistance in searching for their precious Kazekage. Payments were voluminous but labour merciless as Kakuzu slaved alone, hardly with enough intermission for rest. Without the new stream of salary (and hearts), he would have quit and started his own financial empire as competition due to over.

Zetsu was discharged from the hospital after her last reconstructive procedure and month of bedrest, and Konan had persuaded—borderline threated, Pein to permit her 'maturity leave' to nurse the teenager back to health—arguing that cleaning and bandaging her lacerations between two to three times a day along with general care was a twenty-four job. Pein—Nagato reluctantly agreed. However, on the restriction of a single month since with the Mayfly activated, it had yet to be harnessed for the benefit of the Akatsuki. Konan begrudgingly agreed.

…

"There, finished." Konan announced as she finished cocooning Zetsu's waist with fresh bandages as per their morning routine and securely taped them together. "They aren't too tight, are they?"

"No." Zetsu answered, probing her fingertips beneath the bandages as evidence, before yanking her favourite pink shirt down to hide the dressings and smoothing out the cute puppy dog print on the front. She analyzed herself in the bathroom mirror and stroked her hands across her emerald locks which Konan had just trimmed back into her fancied burr cut. The extraction zones on her forearms had healed enough for the plasters to be removed yesterday and she also glanced at the perfectly rectangular scarring marring them.

"Ok. Now then, I've explained everything well enough, right? You understand how to clean your waist and bandage it by yourself?"

"Off, wash, medicine, small bandage, big bandage." She parroted the instructions Konan had rehashed to her, in own limited vocabulary, and further illustrated them with hand gestures such as patting her stomach and casting circular motions around her waist.

"And when to change them and take your medication?"

"Up time and bed time." She said, beaming with self-satisfaction.

Konan smiled, satisfied with her answers, though as simple as they were, and stood from her crouching position, scratching the girl's green, shavened head. However, her expression soured moments afterward and she heaved a drawn sigh while staring at Zetsu who mimicked her sudden dejection.

"Zetsu, I'm sorry I have to leave again, sweetheart. It'll be for a little awhile, I promise."

"…Ok." Zetsu said, glancing away to distract herself with the stray locks of her hair which littered the bathroom floor. The hesitation in her soft-spoken voice was obvious and Konan understood the reason intimately. Without her, Zetsu would be recruited back beneath Kakuzu's supervision—the man responsible with everything negative which had happened to her since she left Kusagakure and whom frightened her. Suddenly, Konan nudged her in her arms and Zetsu promptly cuddled herself into the woman's warm embrace, causing the blunette to squeeze her tighter although cautiously due to healing.

After several seconds, she released the adolescent and pecked her on the forehead, smiling. "You're such a strong girl. You'll be fine," Zetsu mirrored her smile, though awkwardly with her canines flashing. "Now, go have breakfast and take your medication. There's something I have to do before I leave, ok?"

"Ok."

She obediently left and Konan swept up the bathroom and disposed of the soiled bandages and supplies. Finished, she left the tidied bathroom herself and marched straight to the basement. Before, she had made the amateurish mistake of assuming Pein would be responsible for Zetsu. She would not make that mistake twice.

…

Pein had been reviewing pending commissions when Konan entered. She strutted up to his desk and wordlessly, chucked an assemblage of loose-leaf paper from her old Akatsuki cloak and onto his desk, causing his deskwork to be knocked to the ground. His ringed orbs focused on it, momentarily widening at its thickness before relieving back to their apathetic gaze as he stared deadpanned at his female partner and rested down his pen.

"Would you kindly explain to me what this is?"

"I've written everything down you'll need for Zetsu. I'm leaving and you must take responsibility for her this time." Konan explained, tapping her manicured nails against the blank cover while leering into the Rinnegan.

He sighed and spared her an empty stare. He should have known better. Everything with Konan entangled that girl nowadays. "Zetsu is not my responsibility, Konan. I am her superior, not her personal babysitter. Kakuzu is her supervisor. Address him about her."

"I do not trust Kakuzu."

"That is unfortunate. But, like said before, Kakuzu is her supervisor while you are gone. I am not. I will dictate him to give her appropriate care, however. That is all I shall do, nothing more." He sternly demurred her before hunching beneath his desk to rescue his precious paperwork from the floor yet again.

Konan sighed. It was a losing battle, but that did not mean she could not attempt to negotiate with him. "Can you at least assist her with her bandaging? She may have difficulty applying the bandage to her back and I'm positive she'll be too afraid to ask Kakuzu. She hasn't met you yet though. I do not want her intimidation to result in her grafts becoming infected. It would not beneficial towards her training." She tacked on the last part, knowing it would sway her other half towards her cause.

Pein straightened up, patting a rescued stack of paperwork against his knee to align it while thinking the request over. He laid it out on his broken desk and after another moment, nodded in agreement. "Alright. That I can do. But that only."

She sighed again. "Thank you."

Konan fetched her packed dufflebag she had smuggled underneath his desk while he fetched the packet and thumbed through it out of curiosity, glancing through the handwritten details which included Zetsu's dietary menu and dosage of medication, to her scheduled slumbertime and bathing. A majority of it was inconsequential to him so he made a mental note to deliver it to Kakuzu for his reference. For now, he set it aside alongside his current assignments.

"I'm leaving. I'll be back soon." She announced, shouldering her bag. Her partner responded with a dismissive grunt as he returned to shoveling his paperwork from the floor, not sparing her a glance as she marched up the stairwell of the basement to the main floor.

Konan entered the kitchen/dining room combination where Zetsu was seated at the dining table, preoccupiedly munching on jarred peaches which had previously mashed for her since grounding food was an impossibility with her canines. The girl perked up when a slender hand landed atop her head and she smiled through a mouthful of the pulverized fruit upwards at the woman. Konan returned the gesture, deciding to scold her later for such horrendous eating manners.

"I'm leaving now, can I have a hug goodbye?"

Zetsu responded without pause as she swallowed down the hefty bite before bouncing off the chair to eagerly oblige her request. The two exchanged a heartfelt hug for a minute before they separated and Konan kissed her forehead again.

"I've spoken to Leader and he has agreed to help you with anything and everything you might need. He's in the basement. Do not be afraid to ask him, alright?" Zetsu mutely agreed and Konan pinched her pale cheek affectionally before straightening as she readjusted the strap of her luggage. "I'll see you soon, I promise. Until then, be strong and behave."

The blunette walked towards the front door with Zetsu shadowing her like a puppy. Waving goodbye, she exited the cottage and the teenager scampered to the window, peering through the blinds and watching her departure through the enveloping clearing before vanishing into the thicket. Once gone, she muttered a disappointed whine before slinking off back to the dining table to finish her breakfast.

However, it was interrupted minutes later as a drowsy Kakuzu exited his room, stretching while yawning vehemently—the porcelain masks on his back shuttering and wriggling, mimicking his rousing. He swept his gnarled locks from his face and bloodshot orbs settled on Zetsu who stared back, lemoned eyes widened and spoon hovering frozen inches from her slacked mouth. He snorted, causing her to flinch and the yellow mush to tumble from the utensil back into the jar it originated from.

"You're awake. Konan is gone?" It was an open inquiry rather than forward questioning. His answer came from the lack of banshee screaming and thundering of heels against the hardwood floor towards him for being within the vicinity of the minor. "Great. Now—you and I can resume our training together." He continued, tongue thick with sarcasm. "So, finish eating and whatever else you must and go outside. If you are not outside before I am, you will be punished. Understood?" Immediately, she meekly nodded and he responded with more snorting. Obviously, her feeble courage had shattered without Konan present.

That said, he entered the bathroom for a much required shower while leaving her with the simple instruction. Unceasing missions had left his tanned skin and brown hair darkened further with dirt and dried blood since his rare breathers between were used collapsing from exhaustion or heeding his starving stomach. The scalding water alleviated his aching muscles and he salvaged it to the last drop. Once finished, he dried and dressed lightly before scouring up a simple breakfast of toast and butter which he shoveled into his cheeks before walking towards the front door. However, he paused once realizing he lacked a key item for his lessons and walked to his room to retrieve it before exiting with said object smuggled underneath his arm, cursing beneath his breath with the thought of having to return to playing tutor again.

Outside, Zetsu was seated cross-legged in the dirt clearance, plucking blades of grass from the ground while anxiously awaiting Kakuzu's arrival. His quaking footfalls impending behind her and she flinched as his vast shadow cloaked her. She peeked timidly upward at the hulking man who towered above her and he stared back, versicoloured eyes naked of his sunglasses. Predictably, she winced upon seeing his stitched scowl.

He withdrew something from beneath his arm and discarded it, causing her to flinch and scuttle back against his legs as it crashed to the ground in front of her in a plume of dirt. She stared at the unknown object, dubious about it and Kakuzu kicked her off, pointing towards it like scorning a mutt.

"It's a dictionary," He deadpanned—her ignorance astounding him. Konan might find it adorable, but he did not.

She recuperated and stared again, realizing it resembled a book like the ones Konan read to her at night although much larger and escorted by his persistent pointing, she warily approached it. The cardboard cover was decorated with golden lettering she assumed spelt 'dictionary' since her reading skills hardly spanned above three-lettered words and colours. It was heavy; too heavy for her so she settled with casting it open instead and fingering through the weathered pages which were printed with words upon words assembled with three letters and more she could not read nor fathom. It boggled her mind.

"I will not tolerate your toddler babble anymore," Kakuzu elaborated, sneering and crossing his muscled arms. "You will speak like a competent human being while underneath my supervision. Everyday, you shall read and learn new words until you are able to string together the simplest sentences by week's end. Failure to do so will result in punishment." The threatening was not missed by Zetsu as she stared upward at him with glimmering, saucered eyes. "Understood?"

She obediently nodded and he scowled. Obviously, he would have to revise his guidelines with her but just once, he excused it. Currently, he had more important manners to address instead of playing grammar police—resentfully training her again. He walked a few paces past her before halting and facing in her direction, craning his neck and arching his shoulders. His back bubbled and swelled as the threading underneath clustered together and slithered inside two of the masks installed there, detaching them as they protruded from his tunic collar. Twitching masses collapsed over his shoulders and clambered away before stalling as the living stitching assembled itself into two black creatures that experienced their first awakening.

One stood, far taller than Kakuzu himself with skinny, elongated limbs and flared shoulders where a demonic mask with a pronounced, yellow nose sat between. The second stretched out like a fat snake and sprouted stubby legs and flaccid arms that spanned its whole body with a simplistic, beaked mask. Upon release, both creations stretched and inhaled their first breathes like newborns—Kakuzu's new hearts, dubbed Amatsu and Rājan. Amatsu instantly scuttled to the sunbathed grassed area and laid itself in it like an old hound while Rājan positioned itself protectively over its wielder, rumbling like thunder. Their introduction was not for entertainment, however. Today, Kakuzu would resume training Zetsu and her Mayfly and with the activation of her Kekkei Genkai, the stakes had skyrocketed.

Once harnessed, she possessed a critical flight risk. She would have the capability to escape by phasing through the ground and erasing her chakra signature, rendering restoration borderline impossible. That was the reason Amatsu and Rajang were chosen to be present for these upcoming training sessions as Kakuzu had calculated these risks beforehand. Once Zetsu learned her Mayfly and if she attempted to flee, Amatsu would flood the section of earth she tried to tunnel herself through while Rajan's electricity would disable the natural chakra to render her Kekkei Genkai null and her unconscious before safely jarring her free. It might not work, but it was his best and one solution.

"Set the book aside, we're resuming our training today." Kakuzu instructed, swiping his finger. Zetsu listened as she tried to heave the dictionary aside. When that failed again, she resorted to shoving it through the dirt, causing the elder to cringe. It was old, perhaps older than him and while it was outdated, it was nonetheless valuable and he realized he would have to purchase another one to give her instead—a smaller one.

He approached her again with Rājan shadowing him and the teenager shrank underneath their silhouettes. "We aren't wasting anymore time with chakra exercise or history lessons. You've activated the Mayfly and you're going to practice activating it again. Understood?" She nodded and he promptly scowled, his hand coiling into a fist causing his knuckles bleach and crack. Rājan mimicked its creator seething as it bellowed lowly and blue static cackled through its black threading.

Thankfully, Zetsu realized her mistake before he had to physically correct her. "Y-Y-Yes, sir."

"Good," His hand slackened and Rājan mimicked him, sparkling shoulders slouching. "Do you remember activating your Mayfly?"

She stared blankly, eyebrows crinkled and Kakuzu realized she might not know what her own Kekkei Genkai was. Saying he was taken aback would be a blatant lie seeing dimness. However, a few moments later, a lightbulb apparently flickered on in the empty, cobwebbed depths of her head and she frowned. "Yes."

Skeptical. "Are you positive?"

"Yes," She reaffirmed, then clenched her sundered stomach and stared woefully away. "Hurt."

"Because you activated it incorrectly," He elucidated, apathetic towards her insignificant pain and suffering. It was nothing in comparison to his own due to lack of a hefty payout on her behalf. His finances would grieve forever. "You're going to activate it again—correctly now,"

Zetsu whimpered but was silenced with a snapping of the fingers. "Hush up. It'll be simple, even for your meager brain," He had wanted to bypass more lecturing but with her, obviously, it was inescapable, he realized. "Kekkei Genkai functions off the chakra pathways in certain locations in the body. Once awakened, it modifies the pathways to enable easier future activation. Activating it is like breathing; done without thought," He focused back onto her to discover her trademark, thousand-yard stare fixated on him and he heaved an exasperated sigh, shaking his head.

"Konan taught you chakra control, correct? Just do that but concentrate your chakra upon the point of activation which is—your waist?" He gestured towards her hideous, pink top and Zetsu glanced down before humbly nodding to confirm his question. "Yes. Then do that. I've paperwork to finish so I'll be absent from this little session. But, Rājan and Amatsu shall be present so if you attempt to flee or lollygag, you'll be punished once I return. Understood?"

"Y-Yes, sir." Kakuzu snorted in rare approval. Learning already.

With that, he departed back to the cabin, leaving behind Rājan and Amatsu to babysit. Amatsu merrily snoozed on while Rājan patrolled, pacing back and forth along the treeline and glowering at Zetsu. Everytime she procrastinated, whether by browsing the lexicon or becoming distracted by a random, crawling bug, it was met with distant snarling and bridling by the heart. It effectively startled her back to task of sitting still, since she was stumped about what she was supposed to be doing, while also steadily promoting her anxiety. As evident by her shivering and quivering lips. Eventually, Rājan was barking at her for breathing incorrectly or adjusting her weight and the teenager responded with erupting into waterfalls. Amatsu awakened from the commotion and waddled off to another spot to resume sleeping peacefully.

Hours later, Kakuzu returned, having finished an entire month of finances in that timeframe—a new record, and found Zetsu bawling outside, drenched in tears and snot. It was obvious that which transpired by the gnarled Rājan circling like a vulture and he sighed. He had foolishly thought leaving the girl to simple self-training and nannies would save him the effort of training her himself but he was dead wrong. He should have known better than taking the low road and lost an entire day because of it as the sun was setting in the horizon. He no one but himself to blame.

Begrudgingly, he sent Zetsu inside, sniffling with dictionary in hand, while he tranquilized Rājan and arose Amatsu. Hearts returned to their fleshy abodes, Kakuzu walked inside and back to his room to assuage himself with rebalancing his checkbook. Also, to conceive a new strategy with Zetsu's training. Assuming she knew how to 'concentrate' had been stupid indeed and if she were to activate the Mayfly again, he had to produce a new method. Intimidating it out of her again would result in her death this time, and he had to resist the urge to settle with that option. Leader would not appreciate it (neither would Konan) and Kakuzu had taken to his position in the Akatsuki.

Shaking his head, he sighed and combed back his riled hair before focusing on the spreadsheets laid on his desk. He'd rather fiddle with numbers and collect bounties any day than being a babysitter. Numbers did not lie and corpses did not speak. But alas, fate loved fucking with him like its personal plaything. His only prayer was it was worth all the agitation in the end and this girl was the goldmine Leader perceived her as.

…

Per usual, Pein was processing filing regarding random ongoings in Amegakure when the door atop the basement shrilled open. He paused, staring at the stairwell as the wooden steps creaked. The footsteps were too light to be Kakuzu, but too tentative to be Konan as the person stepped down gradually. It had to be Zetsu, he realized like Konan said and patiently waited, reclining in his chair with hands knotted. Eventually, the teenager descended the stairwell and emerged in the doorway, freezing instantly like a caught deer upon seeing Pein who stared back silently. She had bundles of various sized bandages and medicine bottles nestled in her gaunt arms and he remembered Konan's instruction. Zetsu said nothing, merely staring, and after several moments, he decided to break the awkward tension.

"Hello," He politely met. She did not return his pleasantries and his kindness apparently disturbed her further as she squeezed the supplies in her arms, eyes bugling towards him. It was not unexpected. While they heard of one another, neither had met the other personally (except once on Pein's side when Kakuzu first brought her in) and it was the equivalent of meeting a stranger. "Konan said you might need assistance." Upon the mentioning of Konan's name, it tranquilized Zetsu slightly as her shoulders and eyelids lolled and she relieved her death-like grasp upon the medical stock.

Reluctantly, she stepped forward and Pein thoughtfully relocated a stack of paperwork elsewhere so she could place down her items on his desk. She rested the materials on the donated corner, eyes downcast as she randomly arranged them but he took no offense. He acknowledged his bizarre appearance and their alienation.

"We've have not met before so we should introduce ourselves to each other. I'm well aware of you however, Zetsu, so I'll introduce myself instead. I'm founder and director of the Akatsuki. You shall address me as Leader."

"Yes, sir—" Came Zetsu's programmed response before she realized her mistake and scrambled to correct herself, instinctively shrinking back. "L-Leader." Pein blinked, but said nor did anything.

"Requiring help with your dressings?" He assumed, given the containers and gauze she brought with.

"Yes, sir—L-Leader." She winced. He quirked an orange eyebrow, but again, did not correct her.

"Alright. What exactly are you needing help with?"

"Bandage."

"Bandage?"

She abruptly lifted her sleeping shirt up—causing Pein to cringe as Nagato flinched away from the unexpected flashing—displaying the new bandage she had applied by herself beforehand below her navel. Pre-pubescence rendered nothing to be seen but he averted his eyes out of respect. She lowered it, letting Nagato to breathe again as Pein inhaled, and she indicating behind her. "Back."

"I'm able to do that." He said, voice edged due to his startle and cleared his throat while recollecting himself back to his impersonal self. "What do I do?"

"Off, wash, medicine, small bandage, big bandage." She sped through, pointing to each respective object which corresponded with her chanting before gesturing towards her stomach and hips. He memorized each in order along with her vague flailing and nodded. He had tended to his own wounds before so it was easy enough to replicate.

"Alright. You said your back, correct? May I see?" Zetsu faltered before turning around and hiking her shirt up her back and lowering the waistband of her shorts a bit.

The basement was illuminated by the orange glow from a single lantern hung from the ceiling beams but even in the dimness, the grotesque abrasion on her back was perfectly visible. Konan had informed him about Zetsu's double skin grafting and it explained the perfectly oblong, squared patch stapled onto her back. The donated skin was discoloured purple and the mesh base visible underneath but slow healing was evident. Her waist was riddled with further stapling and stitching where she had bisected herself and the vertical lacerations where the Mayfly had pierced through. It was graphic and Nagato experienced an inkling of sympathy for the girl but Pein betrayed nothing.

He presumed the steps "Off" and "Wash" had been done by her beforehand so he proceeded on with "Medicine". He retrieved the tube of doctor prescribed cream and squeezed a dollop of the white substance onto his fingers. It smelt like aloe vera and tingled faintly on his skin. Carefully, he applied it to the trauma and Zetsu winced. He smeared the ointment evenly along the border of the graft and the seam of her waist where he hypothesized she had not been able to apply it herself. During which, the anxiety persisted between them and Pein decided to disrupt it with idle conversation.

"Did Kakuzu resume your training today?" He attempted. It was lame, he acknowledged that, but Nagato had never been a social person, leaving the talking to Konan and Yahiko and now was no different—although marginally easier behind his guise.

"Yes."

"Did you make progress with your Mayfly?"

"No, s—Leader." She was honest, at least.

He finished medicating her and fetched the smaller bandage according to her which was gauze patch. He folded it out and laid it onto her implant, the lotion behaving like a paste and cementing the swathe in place. Then, with the last step, he reeled out a length of bandage and laid it onto the patch before enveloping it around her waist with the girl's assistance. He made three layers before tearing it off and taping it into place.

"Is it too tight?" He inquired, lightly tugging on it to confirm it was not pitching into her skin.

She shook her head and fixed her shirt and shorts before facing him. She mumbled her appreciation before gathering the materials into her arms then as quickly as she came, she scurried out the basement. Pein stared at her retreating back as she vanished through the doorway and heard her stampede up the stairwell and the door above thrown shut. Once gone, he returned to his paperwork but after a few minutes, he paused and smiled.

"Sir Leader?" He chuckled to himself and resumed writing. "Has a certain ring to it."

…

Next morning, Zetsu was seated outside again, idly browsing through the weathered pages of the dictionary Kakuzu had given her while waiting for said person to arrive. Rājan and Amatsu were present, having been ordered outside to babysit the adolescent while their master prepared for his training lesson that day. Rājan glowered at her from the flickering shade of a tree while Amatsu dozed, sprawled in the sunlight. She minimized herself behind the grand book in response to the mask's painted gaze pinpointed onto her and attempted to read.

Awhile later, Kakuzu finally appeared, haggard and defaulted to grumpiness. He had spent several hours the previous night brainstorming on effortless methods of training Zetsu and due to that, had achieved a few hours of sleep at most. It was obvious too, as he wore his bandana over his tangled, brown locks and his sunglasses to shield his sleep deprived eyes accompanied with his trademark scowl. Rājan friendly snorted as its host and mimicked his advancing while Zetsu shrank away like a groveling pup between them.

Kakuzu noticed the heavyset book she had lugged outside with her and he speculated she thought it a mandatory prop to their training when he remembered his little reading assignment for her.

"Girl, speak—now." He instructed, pointing at the dictionary opened on her lap.

She blinked upward at him for a second before realizing his request and stared at the textbook, hesitating while searching the printed gibberish which was enough of an answer for him. He removed the notebook tucked beneath his arm and brought it against the side of her head in a single, blurred swoop. She yelped out and toppled onto her side, scrunching into a fetal positioned while shielding her stinging face. Salt sprinkled into the wound as he tossed the pad onto her crumpled form.

"Up. That hardly hurt you."

Zetsu straightened up and uncovered the inflicted area, revealing a red, highlighted imprint on her ashen skin where the metal spiraling of the notebook had struck her. Kakuzu ignored her sniffling and instead addressed the notepad he had brought with by pointing at it. She flinched and stared at it, replicating her hesitation as she had with the dictionary and again, he had to painstakingly explain to this mentally handicapped child.

"It's a notebook. Konan taught you about origami, correct?"

"Yes, sir—"

"And how to activate it with chakra?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You're going to be making origami like she taught you," Immediately, Zetsu brightened upon hearing this. "But instead, concentrate your chakra into the point of activation of the Mayfly." Obviously, the detailing had failed in translation by his student's scrunched brow and frown.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose underneath his sunglasses. He could not blame her this time, however. It sounded more idiotic aloud than it had in his sleep deprived head but it was the best he had thought up. He hated admitting anything Konan had taught her was beneficial but Leader had left him stranded trying to train a girl about a Kekkei Genkai which he did not possess himself. It was like trying to describe colour to a blind person while being blind yourself.

"Just activate the origami using the activation point in your pelvis while simultaneously concentrating it to activate the Mayfly again," He sighed and leisurely crossed his arms. "If you successfully awaken your Mayfly, you'll be rewarded."

Zetsu tilted her head. "What?"

Kakuzu snorted. So, she had learned a new word afterall. "You'll get it if you activate your Mayfly and on that condition. Now, do that and do not think this is just arts and crafts. I'll be observing this lesson and slouching shall be punished. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

Satisfied, he left to the woodland border with Rājan stalking behind and seated himself against the trunk of a tree, far enough to leave install a false thought of security in the teenager while being within view of one another. Zetsu stared at him like a fidgety rodent for a manner of minutes before she finally separated her gaze from him and focused it on the journal he had left. It was a spare with the pages unblemished and while he execrated wasting supplies, it had taken a lot of self-convincing that permitting her use it for origami was a decent enough cause. Although, he could not help the unconscious grimace racked from him when she tore out the first, perfectly useable page and proceeded to raze it with deliberate wrinkles.

Her first creation was a flower which she bloomed in her palm and grinned before setting aside to fold something new. She made a crane next and it flexed its blank wings before joining the other craft. Kakuzu passively watched Zetsu as she made artwork after artwork and activated each with chakra, causing them to briefly rouse to live before being scrapped. However, it was made obvious she had either did not understand his instruction—which he was not surprised, or, was purposely ignoring him when she used her hands to cluster her chakra instead of her abdomen. Either or, it was not appreciated.

"Girl," Zetsu flinched and glanced up from her croaking paper frog at Kakuzu who pointed at her once again. "Use the activation point in your stomach— _your stomach_."

She blinked and peered at her stomach before returning her stare onto him as she positioned the frog against her abdomen instead. He nodded then sighed which dissolved into yawning as he reclined back against the tree to resume drowsily observing her. The idea was if she amalgamated her chakra into the general region of the Mayfly, it would trigger the Kekkei Genkai into activating again—correctly. That was the idea, anyway.

She dumped the amphibian onto the stack of trashed origami and yanked out a new page which she made into another crane. However, this time, it did not activate instantly like the rest did and remained motionless as she cradled it against her stomach like advised. Zetsu frowned when nothing happened and tried again, not pinpointing her "chakra" into her hands but her abdomen instead—tried. There was nothing by lack of reaction from the white bird and warm prickling in her belly and her frowning deepened. She could not understand. She could make the birdie flap-flap with the hot in her hands but not her tummy? Maybe the birdie was broken. So, she tossed it and made something else.

Kakuzu watched on as the girl constructed another flower and attempted again to stimulate it which failed. She tried for a few minutes before trashing it in favour of folding something new. This cycle carried on for awhile of her crafting a new piece then attempting to animate it, only to give up after a few minutes and ditch it to make something else and try again. Eventually, there was a growing pile of abandoned origami beside her and she had begun focusing so hard at one point her face was shaded crimson, prompting a lethargic Kakuzu to interrupt before she fainted or broke a blood vessel.

"Don't push yourself, girl. You're going to kill yourself." Zetsu's face paled back to its original colour from the revelation.

By evening, she had emptied the notebook of all its pages and had not activated her Mayfly—only succeeding in littering her crude origami everywhere. Kakuzu was infuriated and communicated this by delivering a solid punch against her cheek which sent her soaring against the porch of the cabin. He struck her with the hard-covered dictionary for extra measure. She limped back inside, whimpering and bleeding while he cleaned up her mess—and by cleaning he meant going to sleep while leaving Daora to huff them away in the wind.

…

Pein glanced at the clock while idling clicking his pen and reclining in his chair. He was taking a breather from continuous stream of paperwork and patiently awaiting Zetsu to arrive so he could assist her again with her evening bandaging. However, tonight she was later than she had been the previous night and he was curious of her wellbeing. It could be that Kakuzu was training her into the late hours, or she had neglected to remember. Although, he found himself doubting both.

It wasn't until a half-an-hour later that the cellar door screeched open and the stairwell groaned with modest stepping. Zetsu tiptoed down, bandages and medication in hand, and upon witnessing the juvenile's face, Pein inhaled sharply between his teeth.

"Dear me," He sighed, setting his pen down again. "Are you alright, Zetsu?" She wavered before nodding which he obviously did not believe. He ushered her forward and after a moment, she abided and inched toward him, eyes averted downward at her bare feet. The sparkling, green polish Konan had painted on her toes was chipping off.

Pein analyzed her bruising which was an ugly purple and yellow, visible even in the dim lighting and spanned her cheek and splattered across her forehead. There was even a peculiar lined pattern scraped alongside her eye. Kakuzu's handiwork. He sighed again and cupped her cheek, causing her to flinch back before settling in when a refreshing warmth and greenish glowing bathed her skin. His hand traveled against the map of bruising and healed it. After a few seconds, he removed his hand and gently tilted her face around in search of anymore damage.

"Feeling better?" She nodded. He believed it and released her. "Good. Konan does not have to know about this, alright?" Konan would metaphorical kill him if she knew he was permitting treatment of Zetsu by Kakuzu like this. He made another mental note to speak to tanned man about his 'methods' of discipline.

"Yes, sir." Her eyes widened automictically but he hushed her by lifting his hand before she could correct herself and smiled shortly.

Like that morning, it was quiet between them as he changed her wrappings. Although, it was a comfortable silence as Zetsu was relaxed unlike their first meeting and Pein felt no need to sedate her with conversation—much to Nagato's unspoken relief. He finished up with applying a length of tape on the new bandaging and she fixed her penguin printed shirt before shoveling the leftover supplies into her arms. Instead of leaving, however, she stared at Pein who responded with a quirked eyebrow.

"Something amatter, Zetsu?" She did not respond as she frowned and her eyebrows scrunched instead like she was struggling internally. "You can share. I will not judge you."

She averted her gaze momentarily before returning it to him and after another minute of staring, she spoke. "Help?"

"Help?"

"Help."

"You require help?" She nodded but did not elaborate which Pein did not pressure her to do since he doubted she could anyway with her limited vocabulary. "I'm willing to help you with whatever it is."

His answer sufficed enough that she left, sprinting up the stairwell and yanking the door closed behind. Pein waited, curious what she requested further help for as he shuffled around paperwork and twiddled his thumbs. Several minutes later, the door reopened but the footfalls upon the wooden stairs were heavier and slow, unlike the girl's cautious stepping. Instead, it was trademark of Kakuzu's tramping. It made him surmise he had arrived in the meantime to speak with him instead and expected the behemoth man to crouch though the doorway any second. However, it was not Kakuzu, it was Zetsu, heaving along a huge book. She scuttled through the doorway and Pein hardly managed to relocate a stack of folders before she dropped it onto his desk. It instantly lurched beneath the gargantuan novel and he caught when it bowed in half and hoisted back together. It astounded him she managed to carry it from the main floor to the basement since he estimated it weighed approximately as much as she did.

"Zetsu, what is this?" Pein asked. Obviously, he realized it was a dictionary and he should have been specific with his questioning, like: why do you have dictionary? Had Kakuzu given it to her?

"Read." Zetsu answered.

"Read?"

She opened the leather cover and fingered to a random page before staring up at him. "Read?"

He blinked and glanced at the page which was just a random assortment of words beginning with the letter 'A'. He could not understand why she wanted to read a dictionary. If he was correct, she had plenty of children books Konan had purchased for her. If he were a betting man, he'd say it was Kakuzu's doing since how else would she have gotten the dictionary (a rather decrepit dictionary) and was so hellbent to read it?

His first reaction was a reject her. He had enough work as it was and he did not need to be playing teacher atop that. Especially, not that when it was Kakuzu's assignment. However, his resolve crumbled slight upon witnessing the girl's puckered bottom lip and large eyes staring at him. They reminded him of the saying about puppy dog eyes as Nagato experienced flashbacks of Chibi and how he would plead for food or affection using the same method. The comparison amplified her sniveling and Pein sighed, flicking his lip piercing with his thumb. Perhaps he could sacrifice a few minutes on his evening to read her a couple words. Just enough it satisfied whatever assignment Kakuzu had given her. Just this once and never again would he be so kind.

"Alright," He retrieved the cumbersome book and replaced it in front of him. Zetsu smiled and rounded the desk to peek around his shoulder. "Which word would you like to do first?"

…

Zetsu seated herself in the dirt, swiping her finger down the page of the dictionary while she mumbled crude pronunciations of each word under her breath. Sir—Leader, had taught her the pronunciations and definitions of a handful of random words the previous night and it had perked her interest. There were lots of colourful words, more so than the simple ones in her storybooks and all meant something different or the same. Who knew there were different words for the colour blue? Or have hunger? She wanted to learn all the words now—and not because Kakuzu had threatened her to.

Speaking of that devil, Kakuzu exited the cottage, combing his damp hair underneath the collar of his trench coat and finishing his piece of buttered toast. He stepped behind Zetsu, who did not notice as her eyes remained glued to the dictionary pages. It captured his curiosity, more so with her whispering of broken words underneath her breath and he quirked his head against his shoulder. So, she had taken interest in reading and learning speech, had she? Only if she did so also with reactivating with the Mayfly also—he thought with a snort which succeeded in startling said person as her head jolted upward at him and she stared at those trademark, widened eyes. He did not apologize.

"Word." He ordered, snapping his fingers.

Unlike yesterday, the teenager did not falter. Instead, her attention returned to the dictionary as she flipped back through the pages in search of a word she had practiced with Leader. After a few moments, she settled on one and rested her finger underneath it as her tongue toiled to pronounce it.

"A-A-As—Az—or? Az—ore. Azure."

Kakuzu perked an eyebrow. "Azure?"

"Azure." She confirmed, smiling and obviously proud of herself. However, he was suspicious she hadn't learned this herself.

"Definition?"

"B-Blue?"

"Use it in a sentence." Zetsu's smile vanished instantly.

He sighed but found himself incapable of becoming irritated with her about it. He was dubious about her ability to learn such complicated words like 'azure' by herself but she had learned one nonetheless so he gave her the tiniest credit. However, it did not excuse her failure with his last request and he flicked her in the forehead, causing her shield the impacted area and whine.

"Please, that did nothing. Now set aside the dictionary. We're returning to training the Mayfly." Lord, he felt like a broken record.

He whistled and gestured at Rājan, who understood its host's unsaid directions. It lumbered over to a tree and plucked off the largest leaf to be found before walking to Kakuzu. He accepted it and Rājan returned to dozing alongside Amatsu. He walked to Zetsu who flinched reactionarily and squeezed shut her eyes when he pressed it against her forehead until the foliage struck against her skin. It remained there for a few seconds before fluttering off and into her cupped hands, leaving behind a red mark in its image.

"We're returning to chakra concentration training today, girl." He explained, pointing at the leaf. "Your ability to focus your chakra is abysmal. Konan taught you how to circulate charka into your hands but nowhere else. That is the purpose of this practice. It's been awhile since we did it last so I'll remind you what to do." He snatched the leaf and jabbed it back against her forehead. "Balance the leaf on your forehead and focus on it. Nothing else. Close your eyes, breathe and purge everything from your empty head except that leaf. It'll sharpen your ability to focus and permit your chakra to circulate throughout you and into it. Understood?"

It sounded foolishly, backtracking like this instead of repeating yesterday's practice but he didn't need the girl maiming herself again trying to activate the Mayfly. It was wiser to retort simpler practices until she mastered her chakra control. How long that might take—perhaps forever. But, not like he had much of a choice but to wait. Damn Leader for everything.

"Yes, sir." She answered, toying with the green petal once it fell off again.

Kakuzu left it and walked to join Rajan and Amatsu in their snoozing underneath the wavering shadows of the forest. He fetched a novel from his jacket pocket and flipped through to his bookmarked spot, occasionally gazing at Zetsu to analyze her process. She struggled at first to balance the leaf on her forehead without pressure at it repeatedly danced off. He was about to do it himself again when she finally figured out how to keep it on by tilting her head back. Although, he could not imagine it being comfortable and her retaining that position for long and expected her to squirm about within a few minutes. However, it apparently did not as she remained like that, convincing him she had fallen asleep but he did not interfere for the slim chance she was concentrating. He hushed his doubt about it.

This was not a training session which could be done in a few minutes so he read through his book while peering at her. She sat still for an hour straight, legs crossed and arms resting limply in her lap while her spine was erect with her head resting backwards against her shoulders. Her mouth was agape and he was leering for the presence of drool to confirm his suspicions she had nodded off so he could jar her awake. There was none and another hour ticked away by evidence of the sunlight shifting the angle of the trees' silhouettes.

It was a peaceful and silent day so there was nothing to distract Zetsu and Kakuzu had kept himself perfectly still since his slightly movements would startle her. Again, she may have fallen asleep, which he could not rule out since he was unable to detect her chakra movements. The Mayfly made hosts' chakra system invisible, even to the most acute of chakra sensors and since he was not one, there was nothing he could about that little trait of the bloodline. So, returned to his novel.

He lingered on it as the plot's tension heightened and went without checking on the minor for awhile. Suddenly, Rājan snorted. Kakuzu ignored it, assuming the heart creature had been distracted by a questionable movement in the distance. It resumed snorting, however, like a panting bull and the elder finally separated himself from his book to locate the source of the its distress. He glared at it first before glancing at Zetsu in case she had fallen over asleep or was sidetracked by that damned dictionary again. Instead, it was neither of those things and his jaw metaphorically dropped at the sight instead.

Sprouting from her waist were green, sharpened appendages. Kakuzu recognized it as being the same which had activated that morning she had accidently bisected herself. It was the Mayfly.

He remained motionless, afraid that getting up to walk to her would interrupt whatever trance she had fallen into and cause the vegetation to either retract or sunder her again. He observed instead as they inched from underneath her shirt, phasing through the bandages around her waist like they were surfacing from water. They stretched upward, over her abdomen and towards her shoulders like groping fingers. It felt like it was an instant to Kakuzu but the process took approximately an hour as they sluggishly grew out. They made it to their destination as the pointed tips reached the height of her shoulders—then stopped. He waited patiently but they made no more movement outward nor did they return.

Cautiously, Kakuzu set aside his book and stood, his old knees cracking at the motion. Zetsu did not flinch at the subtle noise or when he shuffled to her as she stayed in the position she had drifted off in. It wasn't until he removed the leaf off her forehead that her caramel orbs rolled open and widened upon him standing about her. Before she could do anything, mainly panic and harm herself, he pressed his finger to lips, signaling her to hush. She blinked and eyebrows crinkled together, evidently puzzled by the request.

"Shh. Don't panic, girl. Listen to me—I want you to lower your head slowly. Understood?"

She swallowed thickly. "Y-Yes, sir."

He pointed downward and she slowly followed his head until witnessing the digit-like vegetation protruding from her waist. She gasped and he prepared himself for them to suddenly withdraw in her frenzy and there to be a bloodbath like last time. Thankfully, it never came and they persisted undisturbed outside her body, even while Zetsu fretted with hysteria. Kakuzu inspected her physical representation of the Mayfly.

It was different from the Mayfly Man's where it vaguely resembled a Venus Flytrap as he rounded her and saw the bottoms of the extremities had fused together into a cocoon-like webbing. They were thick and riddled with veins, mimicking muscles while the insides were fleshier and secreted a clear, syrup-like liquid that emitted numbing scent. It could be poisonous like the Mayfly Man had wielded so he refrained from touching it or inhaling its smell too deeply. Instead, he prodded the exterior and the extension flinched away, shuttering before reclining back into its original position. It did not splash him with the fluid or attempt an assault. Due to this, he hypothesized Zetsu's Mayfly functioned as a defensive mechanism rather than offensive like the Mayfly Man had and it had been partially reason it had prematurely activated before. This was his first encounter with the bloodline without being the midst of battle and it was an educational experience.

However, while Zetsu had managed to activate it, deactivating would be another question now. He wasn't positive how she had achieved it, but now she would have to undo it. Otherwise, they would have a larger problem on their hands—one without a simple solution.

"Girl," Zetsu stared at Kakuzu with clouded eyes. "Are you pained? Or dying?" She sniffled but indicted she did not by shaking of her head. "Hush up then. Crying will achieve nothing."

He searched upon the ground around his boots for the leaf he had flicked away. Upon locating it, he rescued it and attached it back to her forehead. As he did, the branches of her Mayfly migrated towards his hand, the honed tips scrapping his skin before he wrenched it back to which they relaxed back into their original positions. It appeared it was not as passive as he had assumed, he realized as he scratched his grazed wrist.

"You activated the Mayfly. Now, you must deactivate it. Repeat the process before. Afterward, you may return to your pathetic bawling. Understood?"

"Yes, s-sir…"

He returned to his location and scrutinized her while the teenager rearranged herself. She mimicked the steps she had performed before, balancing the piece of foliage on her forehead by slouching her head backward then shutting her eyes. It went silent, the sole noise originating from the trees as the wind rustled the branches and leaves against one another and the occasional snoring from Amatsu. He kept his gaze on her Mayfly, patiently awaiting the bloodline to retract. It made no movement except the occasional twitch and shutter from the gust. Minutes ticked by and regardless of himself, Kakuzu became somewhat anxious. If Zetsu could not disable the Mayfly, there would be a larger issue on their hands and he did not know how to solve it. He had barely guided the girl to triggering the bloodline without resorting to more self-maiming, afterall.

To distract himself, he returned to his book and gazed at her every few pages. This progress repeated for another series of hours as his rather lengthy novel neared its finish and the daylight dimmed into evening. He lifted his bloodshot vision for the umpteenth time and narrowed his eyes to perceive his pupil in the dwindling light to investigate her process. It was difficult to decipher, but he swore the Mayfly appeared shorter than it once was by an inch or two. Although, it might be his imagination. He returned to reading and when he checked again, it was shorter again and he convinced himself it had not been his old mind playing tricks on him as he pocketed the book again to watch. Minutes crawled by—then, the flytrap teeth abruptly diminished a few inches more. Kakuzu withheld a sigh. Little by little, the Kekkei Genkai returned to wherever it had been summoned and vanished from sight.

By hour's end, the greenery had withered away back inside Zetsu and he gave it a few minutes more before rousing her out of her trance. Her honey orbs opened and immediately, she averted them from Kakuzu and downward at herself, searching for the Mayfly. She clamoured to her feet and patted herself down for any questionable bumps and hiked up her shirt to observe her bandages which were undisturbed from the bloodline. When there was nothing, she giggled and smiled. He had seen her smile before, but never in his presence and never had he heard her laugh. It was such a genuinely joyous sound which enlightened people. Rājan made a retching noise in the background to vocalize Kakuzu's feelings. Most people.

Her beartrap smile gleamed upward at him and he snorted. However, her grinning disappeared when he suddenly lifted his gloved hand above her head. She anticipated being struck—the reason she didn't know (but did he need one?)—and squeezed closed her eyes, preparing herself for the harsh impact and pain. It never came and instead, his hand landed roughly atop her head once, then twice, then a third time without stopping. Hesitantly, she peeked at him and realized he was not hitting her, but patting her—although rather hard as her head jerked with each landing of his large hand. It lasted for several seconds before Kakuzu removed his hand. Zetsu resumed looking at him with her traditional vacant stare and after a few awkward seconds, he lifted his fist to his mouth as he cleared his throat.

"You've done well. You managed to activate the Mayfly, but also deactivate it without problem." He admitted. "It'll be second nature for you with more practice. Much, much more practice."

"Yes?" She chirped, arching her head sideways like an inquisitive owl.

He sighed, folding his arms. "Yes." Lord, he hated praising her for little things like Konan did.

"Reward?"

His sunglasses veered down the bridge of his nose as he gave her the flattest look he could muster. Her timid smile faltered again and his eyelids fluttered as his eyes rolled underneath them before he readjusted his dark spectacles. "Yes, yes. You'll receive your reward by week's end for awakening the Mayfly like promised." Her smile reinforced itself upon the confirmation and she bounced again. "Now inside. Training today is finished. We'll resume tomorrow and you'll practice with your bloodline further. Get."

Zetsu hoisted the rented dictionary into her frail arms and scurried inside the cabin without being told twice while Kakuzu recalled Rājan and Amatsu before hiking after her.

…

Kakuzu trudged down the basement stairwell, hunched over awkwardly to cram his broad frame inside the narrow passageway. Below was alit with a mellow light, indicting Leader was vigilant and working, like always. Although, the darker male had never walked in on him sleeping since it seemed he never did—or eat, or bathe. Actually, he had never seen him perform any basic human needs, but that was a conversation for another day. He entered the claustrophobic office where the occupying false deity had set aside his paperwork momentarily, having heard and felt his visitor's descent.

"Good evening, Kakuzu." Leader greeted, hands folded neatly atop his desk. "I'm appreciative you are here. I've a few topics to discuss with you."

Kakuzu seated himself in the cheap, foldout chair at his superior's desk, the metal bending further beneath his weight. "Such a coincidence, because I have something to share with you also."

"About Zetsu?"

"She activated and deactivated the Mayfly—successfully."

Leader's Rinnegan temporarily dilated upon the response. "Did she? If so, this is substantial progress. While it is the first step, at this pace, she'll prefect the Kekkei Genkai sooner than we could have anticipated. Brilliant job, Kakuzu."

"Thank you." Kakuzu replied, deciding against mentioning the fact that he hadn't a clue what he had done or was doing. He'd just keep that to himself.

"Since we on this topic, I have something to give you." He rescued a swollen folder from his stronghold of paperwork before resting it in front of his employee who stared at it in mild curiosity but practiced restraint. "Konan left this for you."

"What is it?"

"Notes on Zetsu." He picked up homemade notebook and searched through the individual papers tied together with string. "Everything Konan considered important need-to-know information. Her dietary menu, including specific meal times—the appropriate bed time and morning time along with her morning schedule—time limit of her bathing and grooming such as teeth brushing and method of brushing and—why are you leaving?" Leader gazed up from his reciting of the jottings, just now having noticed that Kakuzu had gotten up from his chair and was walking towards the exit.

"I'm not that girl's caretaker and I refuse to be. If Konan wants to baby this child, then she can play mother to her." The brunette grumbled, one hand poised on the brass doorknob which bent within his tightening grip while he glowered at the closed door.

"Yes, I understand this, Kakuzu, but—would you kindly return so we can speak?" The ginger insisted when the other male wrenched open the door and proceeded with mounting the ascending steps.

"Tomorrow. I'm too tired for this shit tonight."

"Kakuzu, I've more to speak to you about—"

" _Tomorrow_. Good night, Leader."

" _Sir_ Leader, to you."

Kakuzu paused and stepped backward to stared at Leader through the doorway. "Excuse me?"

"Sir Leader. That shall be what you will address me." Leader answered, bizarrely proudly almost. It was such an odd revelation but he was too exhausted to question him about or correct him as he resumed upward to the main floor, calling down his own answer to the new nickname in an exasperated sigh.

"Whatever."


	19. Arc 1: Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu's first mission with…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Violence/Death (Low), Language (Medium), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 18**

A straight month of diplomatic meetings, overseeing construction, and overdue assassinations of evasive associates to Hanzō had left Konan physically exhausted. Anxiety every waking moment over Zetsu's wellbeing with Kakuzu had left her mentally exhausted. If she hadn't lacked sleep for three days, she would have sprinted from Amegakure back to their current hideout. Instead, she resorted to a sleep deprived shuffle through the putrid swamps which gradually blossomed into lush forest. It took approximately a half day's travel but she had made it back before night had fallen and swallowed her in darkness. As she navigated through the dense thicket towards their inconspicuous cabin, amongst the rustling leaves and distant animal noises, there a sole voice echoing in the direction she was traveling.

She treaded closer and identified the low, roughness belonging to none else but Kakuzu. Although, his speech she could not distinguish until a few steps more.

"Throw—wrong. Throw— _wrong_." Konan frowned. What could he be talking about?

She resumed walking through the wooded area until she broke through the treeline and witnessed Kakuzu and his ongoings. He was standing in the sunny clearing with a bizarre, winged monstrosity huddled against his leg and Zetsu positioned several meters in front. Again, he muttered that single word—or evidently commanded as suddenly, the black threaded creature inhaled, briefly ballooning like an inflatable decoration and hissing as it spewed out a rock from its curved beak with a huff of condensed wind. The projectile flew out faster than the human eye could follow and collided with Zetsu's head causing the teenager to yelp and prance about while clenching the impacted area.

Kakuzu audibly snorted. " _Wrong._ Throw." The heart gobbled up another rock piled beside it but before it could heed, Konan intervened.

"What are you doing!?"

The tanned man scowled from the unwelcomed interruption and glowered at the woman stampeding towards him while Daora whined, conflicted if it should launch another rock like told as it nibbled on the pebble in its beak.

"Konan!" Zetsu squealed, intercepting Konan with a soaring hug before she could interrogate Kakuzu about his latest method of torture.

The blunette caught the girl and was bewildered when she had to implement an ounce of strength to heave her up unlike before. She had been so light when she left, like a feather, but she had gained weight while Konan was gone and her skin tone was naturally pale instead of ghastly white. She couldn't have fattened up on mushed fruit and oatmeal, could she? Either or, she was pleased she was healthier now and in no obvious pain from her incident as she bounced about.

"Hello, Zetsu, sweetheart." Zetsu grinned upward at her. Her face smeared in dirt and littered with scratches and red welts with her right eyelid was swollen closed.

"Hello, Konan." Kakuzu greeted politely, snapping his fingers towards Daora who abandoned the rock it had been toying with to return to its host's back. Konan sneered towards him, releasing her affectionate attacker.

"What are you doing?"

He crossed his muscled arms, casually heaving his shoulders into a shrug. "Training."

"How is this training!?" She demanded, gesturing towards Zetsu's blotched face. He snorted again, bemused. She thought this bad yet, she would have had a heart attack earlier when he was pushing his little apprentice against trees and the ground while screaming at her to phase using the Mayfly. It hadn't been successful.

His lips quirked back into a stitched smirk. "Well, while you were gone, the girl activated her Mayfly." He snapped his fingers again and pointed at his student who instantly came to attention. "Girl, show Konan the Mayfly."

"Yes, sir!" Zetsu chirped, not yielding but rather eager to share her progress with her guardian.

She backed away from Konan so she wasn't caught in the wide area of effect of her Kekkei Genkai. She inhaled and closed her eyes, arms flexed against her chest. There was a moment of silence and stillness before suddenly, there was an odd noise emitting from her like jammed vacuum—that was what Konan related it to anyway—then, a green extremity thrusted through her waist with such velocity she expected a shower of blood also. Another one jutted forth afterward then another one until there were at least six in total encircling Zetsu. They shuttered and stretched before arching around their wielder in a defensive position. Konan gaped at the bloodline, awestruck silent.

She had never witnessed the Mayfly before, personally or impersonally, neither had she seen it activated before when it maimed Zetsu. Seeing it was—her first thought that it was perturbing. The limbs reminded her of flora-like fingers with honed points like fingernails and perspired a thick, perfumed sweat and surrounded Zetsu like a cradling hand. One migrated toward her and snagged the dark fabric of her Akatsuki cloak with its claw, scrapping skin underneath. She fought against it to release herself but her thrashing apparently provoked it as it trembled and yanked harder as her uniform. It tore through the captured cloth and she stumbled back while the digit retreated, the torn fiber caught on its barb like a trophy. Konan observed the hole before staring at the vegetation. Zetsu hadn't noticed her accidental attack, her eyes shut still and Konan questioned if the Mayfly functioned on its own will without her consent. It troubled her further while she straightened out her cloak.

Zetsu flexed and the Mayfly shuddered again. It proceeded to shrink in size while its green colouring bleached into white as it melted away back where it came, revving while it did. It took a second before it was gone and its user opened her caramel orbs, relaxing her arms against her sides.

Immediately, she pounced Konan again. "See? See!?"

"Yes, I saw. That was amazing, Zetsu," Konan replied, gifting her a forged smile which the juvenile mirrored with her own beartrap grin. It was a lie. She was mortified. Before, the Mayfly had been nothing but words—mumblings and thought. But now, it was here and it was reality. She had witnessed it with her own eyes and she feared for Zetsu's safety from her own accursed bloodline. The sakes had been risen. "We'll include it in our training together."

"No."

Konan frowned and stared at Kakuzu from his murmured objection. "Excuse me?"

He crinkled his nose so his sunglasses slouched down the bridge of his nose while he glowered back at her. "You heard me. I've made too much progress with this girl for you to undermine everything I've done. She'll resume her training with me."

"That wasn't the arrangement, Kakuzu!"

"It is now."

"You—!" She halted herself before she lost her temper and focused on Zetsu who was standing in front of her still, mutely staring upward at her with her naturally large eyes and lips puckered into a frown. Konan sighed and crouched down to eye level with the petite teenager. "Zetsu, can you go inside, please? Go to the bathroom and get a wash cloth, soak it in cold water and press it against your face. It'll help with the swelling, alright sweetheart?"

"Ok." Zetsu paused, staring at Kakuzu for clearance to leave. He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, indicting she had his approval before she began walking back to the cabin. It seemed he had programmed her, Konan realized, unpleased with the fact.

She waited until Zetsu had vanished inside and was out of earshot but returning her attention to Kakuzu, scowling. "We'll have this sorted out." She whispered under her breath, then adjusted the duffle bag on her shoulder and stomped towards the cottage.

The male snorted, once again. "We'll see." He said and pursued her inside with arms crossed.

…

Pein heard the clamouring of heels followed by thundering footfalls on the floorboards above, meaning Konan had returned and she and Kakuzu were heading towards the basement. Also, the loud shouting indicated they were engaged in another spat and bringing it directly to him, causing the man to sigh as he rested down his pen and prepared himself for the onslaught.

Moments later, as predicted, Konan and Kakuzu stampeded down the stairwell, engaged in a heated exchange with each other. The origamitress threw her bag down beside her partner's desk without stuttering in her harsh words towards the hulking man behind her which circulated around her approach to Zetsu, the Mayfly and her training which Kakuzu did not fail to return with his own colourfully worded opinions. Pein knew better than to attempt to interfere in their argument so instead, he occupied himself to reaping the benefits of Konan's hard work in Amegakure. He unzipped the bag and shoveled through the shopping bags of gifts for Zetsu until fetching folders and bounded paperwork which he thumbed through in curiosity.

Their feuding resumed for a manner of minutes before it began to falter in Konan's favour, Kakuzu being too thickheaded for her to talk logic into, and she changed her attention to Pein who was reading through the proposals for the Akatsuki's assistance. She punched her fists onto his broken desk but he had wisely rubber banded his paperwork together beforehand in anticipation of it being thrashed about and smirked in success when it wobbled but did not collapse into a blizzard.

" _Pe—Leader,_ please remind Kakuzu that Zetsu is to underneath my supervision when I am off duty!"

" _Sir_ Leader." Kakuzu corrected quietly. Konan stared at Pein in response who offered no explanation and she sighed, decided not to question him about it.

"Konan, I apologize but Zetsu shall remain with Kakuzu," Pein said, without removing his gaze up from the folder he was skimming through. Konan gaped while Kakuzu snickered and congratulated himself on his deserved victory. "Because, starting today, Zetsu shall be accompanying him on his missions." His cackling stopped immediately and she gaped further that her jaw threatened to unhinge.

"What!?" Both screamed after being stunned for a few seconds and Pein winced, digging in his ringing ear with his pinky.

Kakuzu rudely shouldered Konan away and smashed his own fists onto his superior's desk, causing the duct tape to lost traction and for the surface to collapse in half again, the shackled paperwork to tumble over like unstable structures onto the floor and falling apart. Pein sighed, defeated. "What the fuck do you mean she'll be on missions with me!?"

"As I said, Kakuzu. Zetsu shall be joining you on missions. You've made remarkable progress with her and the Mayfly. But, she will not progress any further without firsthand experience and we cannot spare anymore time on training her on the side."

"She has barely mastered activating the Mayfly and you expect her to participate on missions with me!?" Kakuzu shouted, gradually inching closer to the ginger's face with each word until he was screaming directly into his passive face. "She can't defend herself and all she'll do it hinder me!"

Pein scratched the inside of his ear again and wiped the spit off his brow. "The purpose is for her to begin learning what her duties will be in the Akatsuki by observing you on mission and she'll have to learn quickly how to defend herself when in danger."

Kakuzu locked his jaw into a snarl and prepared himself for more "persuasive" screaming, when Konan nudged him away for her turn to voice her own defense. He heeded, stepping back as he muttered angrily to himself while chewing on the plastic of his sunglasses to vent his frustration to prevent himself from slugging Pein in his pierced face.

"Lea— _Sir Leader_ , please. If it's experience you believe Zetsu needs, then allow me to bring her on mission. She'll learn the basics of it and I can train her while out and she'll be safe!" Konan insisted, borderline pleading. She had nervous breakdowns when leaving Zetsu underneath the supervision of Kakuzu but now sending her on mission with him and being exposed to death—and whatelse? It couldn't be described how frightened that made her for the girl's sanity and safety.

"Konan, your position within the Akatsuki is addressing political matters and homeland security. With her Mayfly, Zetsu shall be handling assassinations, spying and larceny, not government. That is Kakuzu's profession so he is best qualified for her to learn from," Pein explained, ignoring his partner's heartbreak over the decision although it was difficult. Maybe it would have been wiser to inform her about this when she performed her daily check on him, Nagato realized now. "I have a perfect mission to start her on too—an assassination."

He handed Kakuzu the folder he had been thumbing through and the brunette snatched it away, reading it himself. It detailed a request from a random bastard which wanted another bastard killed for cheap—a simple murder-for-hire like Sir Leader had said and it would be difficult for Zetsu to muck it up. That didn't mean Kakuzu was any happier with the decision however as he bit through one of his sunglass's temples. Konan was distraught with the thought of Zetsu being exposed to such violence and death. "You'll leave tomorrow."

"What!?" Both screamed again and Pein sighed, closing his ringed orbs and applying pressure to his temples to ward off the lingering headache beginning to manifest.

"They cannot leave tomorrow! I've spoken to Dr. Ryu and he said Zetsu is due for a check-up if she can have her stapling removed and he also wanted to start her on experimental treatment for the Mayfly! If she cannot have her stapling removed then what condition would she be in to be on mission?" Konan interjected.

"Also, I'd like at least one day to myself after dealing with that girl after a month!" Kakuzu remarked in the background, snorting.

"How long will it take to have Zetsu checked, Konan?" Pein asked, ignoring Kakuzu's muttering.

"Please, give me a week."

"You'll have three days to have Zetsu attended to. Nothing more. After that, Kakuzu, you and Zetsu shall leave, stapling or not. My decision is final and there will be no more negotiations. Now, please leave my office, both of you." He affirmed then started the tedious task of retrieving his paperwork off the floor again along with fetching more duct tape for his poor desk, again.

Konan and Kakuzu exchanged glances, both riling for another debate but something told them that it would be fruitless since they had both left this as losers and bickering with each other would not change that. So, instead, they heaved their collective sighs and filed up the staircase and out of the basement, defeated.

…

"Alright, I've pack you three jars of food, five water bottles, three changes of clothing, a sleeping bag and emergency medical supplies including your medication." Konan detailed, pointing to each item jammed inside the pink backpack while Zetsu stared on, seated on her bed and munching on mashed bananas for breakfast. "That should be everything you'll need. It shouldn't take anymore than a few days—hopefully."

"Ok." Zetsu mumbled, spooning more yellow fruit inside her cheeks and chipmunking it.

Konan pinched the girl's bulging cheeks, the pressure making her swallow it down. "Manners." She scolded in a motherly fashion before smiling and affectionately poking her nose.

Suddenly, there was hard knocking on the door, strong enough to cause the door to rattle in its frame. Konan knew who it was before anything was said. "We're leaving. Girl, get out here!"

She sighed and fixated her gaze on Zetsu who was staring at the trembling door, mimicking a startled animal with her widened eyes and jaw slackened, uneaten banana leaking from her gasping mouth. Konan used her uniform sleeve to dab it away and nudged her mouth closed before standing.

"I'm going to speak with Kakuzu. Why don't you pack anything else you want in your backpack while I do?" Zetsu nodded mutely and Konan ruffled her grassy locks before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Kakuzu was lingering in the kitchen, finishing off a butter lathered piece of toast as he chewed it and wiped his fingers clean on his leather coat. Konan approached him and he groaned, anticipating what the woman had to say to him.

"Going to scold me again? Or rather leave me with more 'promises'?" He muttered sarcastically, brushing the crumbs off the stitching threaded through his jaw before repositioning his dark bandana onto his nose.

"Yes. You will not harm Zetsu or let her be harmed." Konan said, displaying her prevailing lack of intimidation from the behemoth-sized man as she dared to thrust her finger against his chest. "Or else."

Kakuzu snorted. "Her safety isn't the one you should be concerned with."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. That girl is an abomination against nature. The moment she experiences taking a person's life, she'll become addicted to the bloodlust. Just like the rest of those with her bloodline were."

"Excuse me!?" Konan shrilled, chiseling her nail harder against his chest until he felt it piercing his skin underneath his shirt and prompting herself up on her toes. "Zetsu is not like th—"

"Yes, she is!" Kakuzu roared, tired of her motherly coddling of that child. "Why do you think dear _Sir_ Leader had been so fucking hellbent on training her? Because her Mayfly has programmed her to be the perfect bloodthirsty killer. Face reality! That girl won't be the cute, innocent child you insist she is for much longer. If the Mayfly does not do it, the Akatsuki will!" It was true, and obviously, as much as she hated admitting to it, Konan realized this as she was stunned into silence, staring at Kakuzu with a stupefied expression.

He swatted her hand away. "She's already started walking down the darker path," He mumbled, but did not elaborate as he marched past her to pound his fist onto the closed door. "Girl, out! We're leaving!" Moments later, the door opened and Zetsu timidly shuffled out and Kakuzu winced at her vivid pink outfit.

She had her backpack on, which was apparently too heavy for her as she tittered backwards with each stumble forward. Konan separated herself from her own thoughts to assist the teenager, adjusting the straps so it hugged closer against her back and helped her balance. She hadn't known it would be so heavy with everything she put inside it and wanted to reorganize it for Zetsu's sake, but Kakuzu did not have the patience for it.

"We're leaving now!" He announced, snapping his fingers and gesturing at his hip, calling at Zetsu as if she were a mutt. She did not listen and instead stared at Konan, lip pouting. She didn't want to leave, which she communicated mutely.

The bluenette sighed. There was nothing she could do unless she wanted to wrestle Zetsu away from Kakuzu—something which might be borderline impossible given the man's physical strength and abnormal size, then plead Pein again to permit Zetsu to stay with her instead—which _was_ impossible. She didn't want to subject the girl to anymore melodrama then she had already experienced and increase her anxiety. Instead, she knelt down and zipped up her pink jacket, leaving it down a little at the top so the metal zipper didn't pinch her skin.

"Everything will be alright. Just think of it as a fieldtrip," She assured her, fixing her collar and hood also. "You'll be back in a few days and I'll be here waiting for you, okay?" Zetsu glanced between her and Kakuzu.

"Ok…" She whispered.

Konan smiled and kissed her cheek before standing up. She nudged her and Zetsu hesitantly walked towards Kakuzu, positioning herself alongside him like instructed. He snorted in approval, patting the adolescent's face and Konan resisted against her maternal instincts which told her he was subtly smacking her.

"We've leaving." With that, he walked toward the door, eager to leave after so much dramatics. Zetsu did not immediately follow after, however, as she paused and stared at Konan, the fear visible in her caramel orbs. It made the woman's bleeding heart seize but there was nothing she could do and she had to fight against the temptation to whisk the scared child away in her arms from the boogeyman.

"You'll be alright, Zetsu. You're such a strong and brave girl, remember that." She instead told her.

"Girl!" Kakuzu roared impatiently from outside.

Zetsu swallowed and after a second, puffed herself up like in a muscular cartoon character and resumed walking. Kakuzu was waiting on the porch when she finally left the cabin and as she did, Konan silently closed the door behind them and locked it. It made Zetsu flinch and deflate as she stared at the shut door, lips trembling.

"Move. We have to be at the rendezvous by tomorrow morning." Kakuzu said, rejecting her anguishing and leaving down the steps. It took a minute, but Zetsu gathered herself, reminding herself of Konan's encouragement and reluctantly followed as they exited the clearance.

Konan gazed through the blinds outside the window, watching until they vanished into the devouring thicket. She sighed, toying with her lip piercing as she cycled Kakuzu's harsh words. He was correct. The Akatsuki would mold Zetsu into the person it required in no consideration for her innocence. Another weapon of war, nothing more. If not the Akatsuki, then the Mayfly.

It made Konan fear the person Kakuzu may return with.

…

Their mission was located on the border between Amegakure and Sunagakure, in a tradepost settlement, approximately a day's travel north. Kakuzu proceeded forward on the lonesome road chosen, his pacing steadfast while Zetsu toiled behind. They were a few mere miles into their journey and she was already exhausted, her backpack weighing heavy on her shoulders and her legs untrained for such punishing trekking as her calves ached and burned, making each step agonizing. Steadily, the distance between them increased but the dark-skinned male did not adjust his pace to service her. Instead, he resumed forward and scoffed at her struggling.

"If you mastered the Mayfly, girl, then you would not have to walk. You could phase to your location in a manner of minutes." He taunted her without response. In fact, he could not spy her any longer over the bend of the dirt road behind him. But, that wasn't enough to bother him as he walked on.

It wasn't until an hour later did he slow himself into an eventual stop in the middle of the dirt path. He could reach his destination without pause normally but this occasion, he had along unwanted baggage. He removed him to the side in the refreshing shade of a tree and waited—and waited, gazing down the path he had just treaded in search of his "baggage". Several minutes passed, then several more with no visual of his companion. Another chunk of time passed and he scowled, prepared to launch Daora out to search for the missing girl. Then, there was a shuffling green crop and hideous pink approaching from the distance. It was Zetsu—finally.

She had ditched her overweight backpack as she heaved it behind her like a dead weight while she straggled along, dragging along one of her legs which had seized up with pain. She limped up to an awaiting Kakuzu before collapsing at his boots, whimpering and sniffling into the dirt while clenching at her abdomen which was riddled with crippling stitches and leftover pain from having her stapling removed days before. He sighed, shaking his head at her pathetic display before he picked up her ugly, matching pink backpack which felt heavy to even him and he unzipped it, curious what Konan had overpacked it with.

What he found instead was that the dictionary he had given Zetsu had been jammed inside, presumably by the teenager herself. She must have packed it, either due to her recent attachment to it, or because of her daily reading assignments. Either or, he didn't know why but explained a lot as he yanked out the cumbersome book and the bag become instantly lighter. He pocketed it instead inside his coat then withdrew one of the water bottles Konan had packed. He tossed it at Zetsu, which collided with her chest with a dull thud and she groaned. She weakly uncapped it before guzzling it, rehydrating her dry throat.

This once, Kakuzu permitted her to recover as he lounged in the shade and looked over a map to verify their location while Zetsu laid out on the path like roadkill, resting her burning muscles and trying to ward off the cramping with excessive amounts of water. After a half-an-hour and two bottles of water, it had been long enough for the elder as he pushed himself off the tree and snapped his fingers at his downed disciple.

"That's enough. You've had your one break today. We're aren't stopping for anything else now. So, if you fall behind again, whether because you collapsed or stopped to relief yourself, I'll leave you this time. You'll have to learn quickly, girl, because this is how our missions will function together. No resting. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Zetsu uttered, sitting up and analyzing the amount of discomfort she was in. It was high, but the stitching was gone at least—not that it mattered since she had no choice. She clamored to her feet next and shouldered her backpack which had been disencumbered a few pounds with the removal of the book and two water bottles, much to the relief of her shoulders and back.

Thankfully, after the break, Zetsu managed to keep pace with Kakuzu, although lingering behind slightly due to the aching plaguing her legs and her feet being swollen inside her shoes. She frequently stopped to rest before sprinting after to catch up again, afraid of being abandoned. However, she remained relatively at his side and Kakuzu had no need to bark further at her since she was learning quickly.

Morning matured into noon and once Kakuzu stopped to shed his leather coat due to the increase of temperature as they neared Sunagakure but besides that, it was a straight shot to their destination without further interruption. Mercifully, due to the autumn season, the afternoon quickly darkened into frigid evening and a few hours after sunset, they had reached their assumed location.

Kakuzu gazed towards the distant lighting of a township positioned beneath the hill they were perched atop before squinting at his map, using the dim moonlight to read it. It was ages old so it may not be accurate. This time, however, he confirmed it to be their rendezvous and glanced at Zetsu who had stolen the chance to slump against a tree as she massaged her agonized legs. They could finish their trek to the settlement to rest, but it meant having to shack up in an inn for the night and he did not want to spend such money. Especially not for two people.

"Alright, girl. We're going to rest here for the night." Kakuzu declared, folding up his old map and pocketing it.

He walked off the road into the surrounding bush in search for a suitable area to camp with Zetsu hustling to her feet once more to trail him. The lush greenery had decayed into desert shrubbery and sand due to being on the border of the Land of Wind, also known as the Wastelands, so finding somewhere to squat wasn't difficult as a flat space with a single, rotting tree was chosen. Kakuzu seated himself against and worked on a fire, which took seconds with Teo setting alight a pile of dried tumbleweed and Daora huffing on it into it was a tamed flame. Zetsu again collapsed into the dirt, kicking off her shoes to relieve the pressure off the blisters littering her feet before scouring in her backpack for a random jar of mashed fruit so she could take her medication.

It was peacefully silent, the only noises being of that of the cackling of the fire and rusting sand along Zetsu's obnoxious gobbling of food. Suddenly, the girl gasped and Kakuzu flinched, startled after having dozed off due to the quietude.

"What?" He barked, removing his sunglasses so he could glower at her in the semi-darkness.

"Shiny float!" She proclaimed through a mouthful of food, pointing towards him.

He hoisted at his eyebrows at her before searching in the direction her finger was aimed until he saw that which she had labeled a "shiny float", first mistaking it as being an ember from their campfire.

"That's a firefly." He deadpanned, briefly surveying the blinking insect hover by before sighing and closing his eyes again.

"Firefly? Not fire."

"They aren't on fire. They're named that because they glow."

"Ohhh." She nodded, swallowing down the squished pear in her cheeks before going another spoonful while watching the forlorn firefly float by. "Like peoples."

Again, Kakuzu opened his bloodshot eyes and squinted them at her. "Like people?"

Zetsu nodded again. "Yes. Glow like peoples."

"People…glow for you?"

"Not glow? Not you?"

He frowned, baffled by her question. Then, he thought about it and realized what exactly she was speaking about and wanted to facepalm himself for lapsing in memory on something so obvious. It was the Mayfly. He remembered one of the bloodline's trademarks had been unparalleled tracking. The glowing she was speaking about was feasibly a person's chakra signature. It was bizarre though since she had never mentioned anything about it before and it either due to the teenager's poor vocabulary or because she was beginning to become adjusted to her Kekkei Genkai. Either or, it was a promising sign.

"No, not glow not me." He mumbled, mocking her crude speech.

…

At dawn, they entered the humble township of Oashisu.

Kakuzu read the letter which had been written to the Akatsuki requesting their services. It failed to explain anything besides that it was an assassination with a modest payout and instead the author had detailed the precise location they wished to meet and the approximate time—a saloon at the break of dawn. It even said which table in the bar their contact would be seated awaiting them.

He tucked it back inside his coat and gestured Zetsu along who obediently trudged behind him as they searched for this meetup. The local populace had hardly roused and were preparing for their daily duties, politely greeting the odd duo as they walked past. Eventually, after awhile of lost wondering, Kakuzu had to ask a kindly old woman where the bar was located. After she finished cooing at Zetsu, she pointed him down the street. He thanked her and headed in that direction with Zetsu behind him who was rubbing her sore, pinched red and kissed cheeks.

The decrypted saloon was tucked away in an alleyway beside a makeshift playground, out of view of a normal passerbyer who was not already aware of it being there. Kakuzu checked the time using the town's clocktower to confirm they were not too late before turning towards Zetsu.

"Alright, girl. Normally, we would speak to this contact together since you'll have to learn to address them appropriately when you're doing this yourself. But, there are several conditions preventing that. First being I personally do not trust you not to blurt out something stupid with your kiddy talk. Main reason being, this is a bar and you are too young to enter. So, I'll be entering alone. I want you to stay here. There's a playground you can play on, but do not leave it. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." She confirmed.

He turned to leave when he remembered something. He fished in his interior pocket and withdrew the hefty dictionary he had been lugging about, the juvenile emitting a happy sound when he handed it back to her.

"Go." He pointed at the playground behind her, which was nothing more than a rope swing tied to a tree and plank seesaw. Once she walked towards it, he left to the bar.

The pub reeked of cigarette smoke and cheap alcohol and the interior was so dark that Kakuzu had to remove his sunglasses so he could navigate through it without walking into a table. Besides that, it was relatively empty except a few undesirable patrons as he traveled to the specific table the person requested which was the one in the furthest, darkest corner. Thankfully, it seemed his petitioner was already present as a man was seated there, anxiously wringing his hands around a glass mug. He flinched violently from the screeching when Kakuzu pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table and stared at him, green orbs sized into saucer plates and trembling.

"Akatsuki." Kakuzu stated. Instantly, the emerald-eyed, shaking man released a keen wail which this time, made Kakuzu flinch at its glass shattering pitch.

"O-Oh thank god! Thank god!" He exclaimed, snatching Kakuzu's hand and shaking it vigorously with both hands which were damp with perspiration. "I-I didn't think you'd accept! I w-was so scared! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet, I've done nothing yet." Kakuzu replied, wrenching his hand away and wiping off his new friend's sweat as he seated himself in the uncomfortably small chair.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My name is Koji." Koji reached out his hand again for a proper handshake which Kakuzu rejected, keeping his arms crossed against his chest until the hint was taken and the darker-haired male retracted his hand.

"Just tell me why I'm here, Koji. An assassination, correct?"

"Y-Yes. I'll explain everything. Please, I'll explain everything." Koji shuttered. "S-So, there's this man. His name is—well, he doesn't have a name. Like not a real name? He's known as 'Howaito Auto', or just Auto. H-He's leader of Moku."

"'Howaito Auto'?" Kakuzu repeated, thinking on the name in case it triggered any memories from back during his prison days where he was associated with a lot of questionably named individuals. No one with the name of 'White Out' came up though. Neither did 'Smoke', causing him to assume it was either a local gang or one in its infancy.

"Y-Yes! Anyway—he's horrible! Terrible! He blackmails everyone in Oashisu and makes us pay a 'protection' fee. If you don't pay it, h-his men steal the money either from your home or business. Or both! My store has been robbed twice and my daughter threatened! S-She's only nine! Nine!"

"Uh-huh." Kakuzu muttered, signaling over the bartender for an overdue drink while he listened to the dribble leaking out of this embodiment of anxiety.

"H-He needs to be taken care of. Also, the Moku! Not just my sake but e-everyone's!"

Meanwhile, within earshot, were two men seated at another table. They sipped at their booze and listened to each and every word as their "neighbour" speak to the hired hitman. Once they'd heard enough, they exchanged silent glances with each other and stood from their chairs, leaving payment before whisking out of the saloon.

…

Outside, Zetsu was seated at the mediocre playground while reading her dictionary.

Kakuzu or Sir, had been gone a little while but she was already bored and it was hot. She wanted to go home; she wanted to go home and see Konan. Sir was "cantankerous"—she had learned that word today, it meant mean. She didn't like him.

She sighed and returned to reading but her interest had left it. There was the playground but she didn't know how it worked. She had never been on a playground before. There was a hanging plank and a bigger plank on the ground. Was she supposed to sit on them? They didn't look fun.

She set her dictionary aside in the sand along with her backpack as she walked over to the park, deciding first on the swing. She sat down in the suspended slab but did nothing else, since she didn't know what to do. There were two men approaching which oddly looked alike. Maybe she'd ask them? Konan said not to speak to strangers but Sir did it and that old lady was nice even though she tried to eat her. Maybe they were too?

They kept walking towards her and when they were close enough, she tried to politely ask them to help her have fun. Instead, one of the men lashed out and grabbed her arm, wrenching her off the wooden seat. The other man wrestled something over her head which obscured her sight.

"Get it on her head!"

"I'm tryin'! She's fightin'!"

Zetsu cried out and tried feebly to fight back, blindly swinging her free arm at one of her assaulters. However, her other arm had been captured soon after and she felt herself being heaved into the air.

"Got her! Go! Go! Go!"

"That'll teach that Koji! We've got his daughter now, haha!"

…

"Alright," Kakuzu swallowed down a large gulp of beer once it was delivered and sighed. "So, you want this Howaito Auto executed and his organization, the Moku, axed also?"

Koji nodded, grinning. "Yes."

"Since you do not have a name, do you have a picture of this Auto?"

"I—no."

Kakuzu sipped his booze again. "Location?"

"No..."

He chugged a larger sip, purposely slumping it until his contact was shuffling uncomfortably in his chair. "What about the Moku? What are their approximate numbers?"

"I—I've seen maybe…three or four members? T-There's two which are responsible of collecting fees."

"Alright. Since you requested I eliminate them also, I'll require payment that service also."

"M-More!?" Koji gasped, his building excitement destroyed instantly. "But this is already my life savings!" Kakuzu swallowed down the remainder of his beer and smashed down his empty mug, making Koji flinch and freeze.

"So, for a meager fee, you want me to assassinate a gang leader?" He clarified, impatiently tapping his fingertips against the splintered tabletop. "Also, his entire organization?"

Koji swallowed. "I—yes?"

"Forget it."

"What!?" Koji yelled, disrupting the handful of other customers as they glared at him before returning to their drinking. "Why not? Why!?"

"Because, two reasons," Kakuzu replied, extending two fingers. "One, you're sending me on a wild goose chase."

"N-No, I—"

"Alright, do you know if this Howaito Auto is in Oashisu? Have you ever seen him?"

"I-I—well, no."

"Then if you do not know where he is or what he looks like, how the hell am I supposed to know?"

"B-But the Moku functions here!" Koji insisted.

"So? Currently, the Akatsuki is here but it does not mean we function here." Kakuzu countered, leaving the other man speechless so he continued with his next point. "Second, the payment proposed was pathetic. Enough for an assassination but that it is. It currently is not enough for me to waste my precious time, running around for a person who may or may not be here or who may or may be that person and eliminate every one of his associates here. So, unless, you're going to cough up more ryo, then our business is over."

"But the M-Moku took all the money we had!" Koji, almost in hysterics as his green orbs glazed over in tears. "There is nothing left!"

Kakuzu leant forward, voice lowered into a whisper. "Then we're done here."

"No! Please! Please!" Koji pleaded, knocking over his untouched mug of booze as he scrambled around the table to intercept the mercenary who was standing to leave.

Kakuzu ignored him, walking towards the exit with the man practically clinging to his arm who was crying and pleading miserably for him to reconsider. He persisted on like an irksome mosquito, even once he exited outside and the felon proceeded with trudging towards the playground to retrieve Zetsu to leave. He was within seconds of kicking the pathetic man off—literally—when a robust woman ran towards them, yanking a poor little boy behind her.

"Koji! Koji!"

Finally, Koji released Kakuzu, sniveling. "M-Mari? Mari, is something wrong?"

"Oh, Koji! It's horrible!" Mari proclaimed, throttling around the child like a stuffed animal. "Kari has been kidnapped!"

Koji bleached. "What!?"

"We were leaving the post office when I saw her. She was on the playground. Two men left the bar and snatched her up! It must have been the Moku!"

"H-How? How!? I left her with Romi!" Koji wailed and collapsed to his knees, trembling and grasping fistfuls of his black hair upon the news his daughter had been kidnapped. "I l-left her with Romi! She must have snuck out again to wait for me! Oh, Kari why!?"

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had lost interest in this conversation since it did not involve him. While he did pity the man that this Kari, whom he presumed to be his aforementioned daughter, had just been stolen, their lack of business together meant he did not care—not that he would normally care anyway. Instead, he returned to his task of fetching Zetsu. However, the playground was void of her presence despite being given strict orders not to leave. He muttered an irritated grunt at the girl's rebellion as he searched the ramshackle playing area but found nothing except her backpack and dictionary which was laying open-faced in the sand. It was unusual she would abandon the book, given the bizarre connection she had developed with the book and it erected a red flag.

"Are you p-positive it was her!? A-Are you!?"

Mari nodded, fatty jowls flapping. "Yes! She was wearing that cute pink jacket you imported for her. I couldn't mistake her in that!" Pink. Jacket? _No._ Kakuzu inhaled sharply, fists clenched.

"I'm taking the job," Kakuzu suddenly broadcasted, turning towards dramatic production behind him. "I'm taking the job for the original price."

Koji released a keen noise which stabbed the elder's old eardrums. "T-Thank you! T-Thank you!" He sobbed, shaking Kakuzu's hand again zealously and threatened to accidently unwind the old stitches in his hand. "Y-Y-You can save her! You can save my Kari!"

"I'm not taking this job to save your daughter," Kakuzu said, rudely stealing his hand back and before his words were taken the wrong way, he clarified while displaying the misplaced dictionary and backpack. "Because those bastards kidnapped my partner!"

"What?" Koji and Mari voiced in unison. The little boy whined when his arm was vicegripped in his mother's meaty hand and struggled to release it.

"They must have mistaken her for your daughter because that fucking, ugly jacket!" Kakuzu jabbed the book against the petite male's chest. "So, you're going to help me get her back."

"O-Of course." Koji shuttered, tears having instantly dried upon the realization it may not be his beloved daughter. Mari muttered a sigh before realizing she was harming her son and releasing him as she smothered him in wet kisses, relieved the Moku weren't kidnappers now and running around stealing their children and he wouldn't be next.

"And I'm going to kill all those motherfuckers because they stole something worth more than all their fucking lives combined," Kakuzu whispered, teeth clenched behind his bandana. "My fucking job!"


	20. Arc 1: Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu's kidnapping, Howaito Auto and the Moku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Violence/Blood/Death (High), Cannibalism, Language (Med), Genderbend (Low), Out of Character (Konan)

**Wasteland**

**Mayfly Arc**

**Chapter 19**

"Quit strugglin', ya lil' shit!"

"Open the door!"

Seconds later, the falsely barricaded doors of an abandoned theater were heaved open and a dark-skinned man cautiously peered out. He stepped back surprised as two of his colleagues rushed inside, wrestling a squirming white sheet between them with kicking legs.

"What did you two do now?" He asked, rechaining the doors and trailing the twins as they took their latest prize onto the decrypted stage and dumped it, whoever inside yelping.

"We snatched that bastard Koji's daughter!" One twin snickered, fighting to subdue the struggling girl while the other searched for something to restrain her with.

"You did what?"

The rest of the handful of Moku members lingering in the theater migrated towards them in curiosity, watching and mummering amongst themselves. The second twin returned, having cut off the thick rope used to tie back the curtains along with the lever used to ascend them. Together, they unveiled their capture to their coworkers, like the presenters who once worked this stage and those observing quirked eyebrows upon sight of the girl.

Zetsu glanced around franticly once her vision was restored, analyzing the unknown surroundings and unknown faces staring at her. She couldn't' begin to fathom where she may be when spied someone approaching her and whimpered but was quickly silenced when the metal lever was thrusted against her temple, rending her unconscious instantly. Afterward, she was shackled with the rope. Once the twins finished, they high-fived each other and wiped the sweat off their brow.

"Auto isn't going to happy about this." Their tanned counterpart muttered, staring at the unconscious child who had blood dribbling from her nose and ear from the strike. Everyone else uttered their agreement with the statement before slowly dispersing back to their own duties of standing about and conversing. "Why would you kidnap the secondhand store owner's kid?"

"Because that bastard hired someone to off Auto!"

"We overheard everythin' in the bar!"

"He hired a mercenary?"

"Yes!" The identical twins adamantly voiced in unison.

He scratched his head, conflicted if he believed that little, cowardly Koji had the nerve to hire a guerrilla to assassinate the Moku's head honcho—given the twins reputation of lying. "Alright. You should inform Auto about that, and the girl. He won't be pleased if he learns himself that you kidnapped a kid behind his back."

"Auto is back?"

"Yes. He returned an hour ago. He's in his office."

"Alright. Can ya watch our lil' friend please, Kappei?"

"Yes please, Kappa?" Both stifled a cackle between them.

Kappei sneered at his loathed nickname but decided to agree so the obnoxious look-alikes would leave him alone. "Fine. I'll babysit for her."

"Thank you, Kappa." With that, the matching lavender-haired men left to the backstage while crowing with laughter at their little in-joke.

Kappei scowled before sighing, He stared at the unconscious girl after a few minutes before shrugging and leaving back to his much more interesting obligation of monitoring the entrance. He didn't see much reason to keep an eye on her since she was knocked out and even if she was conscious, what could she do besides cry?

Afterall, she was just one little girl.

…

"Boss, Naozumi and Naoyuki are here."

A heavy sigh originated inside the makeshift office. "Send them in, Shinji."

Shinju glowered at the brothers for a moment before heeding and stepping aside of the metal door so they could enter. Naozumi and Naoyuki grinned tauntingly at him as they walked by him and through. Shinji responded by belting the door closed behind them and locking it until they were finished—or so could not escape if their employer decided to put them out of their misery.

The office had been converted from a storage closest which hadn't been cleaned out when the Moku infiltrated the forsaken theater as there were boxes piled about along with age old cleaning supplies. Instead, a junked desk had been moved inside to justify it as being an office. Behind it, Howaito Auto himself was seated, thumbing through bills and mumbling numbers to himself as he counted through the latest "protection fee" his men had collected from Oashisu's citizens.

"Naozumi, Naoyuki," Auto greeted, writing down the payment beside the name of the inhabitant who had "donated" it on the back of a trashed script before returning to calculating the next fee, all without sparing the replicas the slightest glance. "What has brought you before me this time? Has another child spit on you, Naozumi?" Naozumi blushed, his brother giggling but Auto hadn't finished. "What about you, Naoyuki? Another woman rejected you?" Naozumi snickered this time and Naoyuki responded with punching him in the arm.

"No, we ain't here 'cause that." Naoyuki answered, dodging and glaring at his mirror image for his attempted rebellion punch. "We're here 'cause we got news."

"Important news?" Auto droned, sipping from one of his ever-present water bottles. Knowing their infamous reputation, it wasn't.

"Yes, important news." Naozumi intercepted. "You remember Koji?"

"Koji?"

"The one wit' the pawnshop?"

Auto paused in his tallying, legitimately thinking about that question. Seconds later, the answer came amongst the obscuring fog and he returned to his money. "Oh yes. Kenta and Yugo visited him last week before because he failed to pay his monthly protection fee to us. Squirrelly one, he is."

"Him. So, we were at the bar and he was hirin' a random bastard to murder ya!"

Auto unexpectedly hiccupped with laughter in response. "Killing me? Koji? The Koji who cries everytime he has his bill collected?"

"Yes, him! He did, seriously! Guy had an odd name too—err…"

Naozumi snapped his fingers. "Akatsuki!"

"Yes!"

"Akatsuki?" Auto muttered, writing down another confirmation while thumbing the scarring decorating his jawline. "That is an odd name, isn't it? It doesn't ring any bells either. But, if this man was a mercenary, it is doubtful he would use his real name so it might be an alias. Afterall, Howaito Auto is not my real name. Do I have another bounty on my head then?"

"Err—we don't know. We left before we could hear that part."

"Ah, to tell me then?"

"No, 'cause we kidnapped his daughter!" Another high-five was exchanged before the two literally patted each other on the back for their perceived achievement. "That'll teach that bastard!" However, their celebration wasn't shared by Auto, halted his estimations again and blessed them with the flattest gaze achievable over the silver rims of his eyeglasses.

"Why would you kidnap poor shopkeeper's daughter?" Naozumi and Naoyuki's shit-eating grinning faltered upon their superior's muted reaction and they exchanged puzzled stares. Both thought he would appreciate their efforts and congratulate them, not question their motives. "What were you two thinking?"

"We thought…we thought ya could…"

"Ransom her?"

"Ransom? There is nothing left to ransom from him. Do you two realize what you two have done?"

It had been a rhetorical question, which had soared over the twins' thick-skulled heads. "We—stole a kid?" The white-haired man pinched the bridge of his marred nose and squeezing shut his vermillion orbs, releasing a drawn-out sigh. Their ignorance was astonishing at times.

He threw down the stack of bills onto his desk, causing some of it to cascade off like green snow. "You imbeciles." He grumbled, kneaded the jagged scarring mirrored across his cheekbones and stretching his eyelids. "Because you've kidnapped that child, the citizens may be driven to report us to the government. We had managed to fly under the radar because they had been scared silent but now we'll have to relocate because you two decided to snatch someone's daughter!" His voice gradually increased until he was borderline screaming and the brothers huddled against each other, shrinking underneath his tongue lashing.

"N' who will answer their cries? Sunagakure? They can't even find their own Kazekage." Naoyuki quipped, attempting to inject humour in the dire situation and Naozumi chuckled nervously.

"What about Amegakure?" Auto muttered against his palms and peeked at them through his fingers. Immediately, their joking ceased and both gulped simultaneously as the prospect of having Hanzō the Salamander on the Moku's back—the realization of what they were responsible for steadily settling on them.

"Now please tell me the girl did not see where you have brought her and has not seen anyone's faces?"

"N-No. We had her blindfolded and knocked her out, Auto, sir." Naozumi said with Naoyuki nodding to confirm his brother's answer.

Auto believed them—although just this once—and sighed, slouching back in his chair. "Perfect. Then, since she had seen nothing, we do not have to kill her to protect the Moku. She'll have to be dumped by tonight, however, which will be your jobs since you two kidnapped her to begin with. Meanwhile, we'll have to make arrangements to relocate sooner than anticipated because of your foolish actions! Shinji!"

Shinji answered his manager's howling as he barged through the door and Auto gestured for him to remove Naoyuki and Naozumi. The doppelgangers yelped as their shoulders were grabbed ahold of by the watchman and used to forcibly escort them out of the office where they were then thrown ungracefully into the hallway. Shinji closed the door behind them and locked it to restrict their reentrance.

"Man," Naozumi moaned, standing and rubbing his aching shoulder. "I thought Auto would love the idea of ransoming the kid back."

"Me too." Naoyuki agreed, picking himself off the floor as he combed back his purple hair. "We never git any respect 'round here from Auto or nobody!"

"None—and now, we have to give the girl back for nothing." Naozumi sighed and started walking down the darkened hallway with his hands smuggled in his pockets. "Come on, let's get the girl back before Auto decides to axe us himself."

"Or—" Naoyuki suddenly spoke up and Naozumi stopped, staring suspiciously at his grinning brother. "We could ransom her still, n' the keep the money for us'selves."

Naozumi gasped. "Ransom her and keep the money!?"

"Shh!" Naoyuki scolded, stealing his twin's arm and towing him down the hallway and around a corner where they could not be accidently overheard by their boss or anyone else. "Ya heard me. We'll ransom off the brat n' split the money—half n' half."

"We can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because Auto would actually kill us!" Naozumi whispered, glancing around nervously in search of anyone who may accidently overhear their treasonous conversation and Naoyuki impatiently clicked his bitten tongue against his teeth.

"He don't hafta find out 'bout it. He told us to dump her, which we'll do, but we'll pocket a lil' change in the progress. A—deposal fee, if ya will." Naozumi wasn't buying it and Naoyuki groaned, fisting his hair in frustration. "Come on, Zumi! We ain't never git nothin' 'round here. We don't even git paid for the work we does! What's a lil' money on the side that we earned us'selves?"

"Well," Naozumi said, thinking it over more and processing his identical twin's flawed logic, the thought of potential wealth overriding his fear. "If no one finds out about it…"

"There ya go!" Naoyuki punched him in the arm, subtly repaying his failed attempt earlier. "Let's go git us'selves a payday! After this, I don't need to talk to women, 'cause I can jus' buy one!" He cackled, throwing his arm around his sibling's shoulders and walking him towards the stage. "Now let's git us'selves a plan!"

…

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had trailed Koji back to his house when the jittery male had sprinted home after learning the missing girl may not be his daughter, Kari.

Kari had been home, doing her homework while under the supervision of their neighbour, Romi, when her father literally kicked in the door. Without an explanation, he suddenly released a wail and hugged his daughter, smothering her in kisses much to the girl and her babysitter's confusion. It was only amplified when an unknown, gigantic man casually entered the house after him. Immediately, Romi intercepted him in the doorway, thinking Kakuzu was another Moku which had arrived to extort more money and puffed herself up at the male in a humorous display to intimidate him.

"It's ok, Romi, he's a friend." Koji said between kisses, keeping Kari squeezed in his arms and her face was turning an unnatural colour from lack of oxygen.

"I wouldn't say we're 'friends'." Kakuzu mumbled, entering the house once the teenager had backed down and instead, she had resorted to glowering at him from afar.

Koji paid Romi her babysitting fee but she refused to leave, having instantly disliked Kakuzu upon first glance and Koji had to repeatedly assure her that he and Kari would be fine alone with him. Once she left, Kari prepared a kettle on the stove for tea while Kakuzu and Koji seated themselves on the couch and loveseat in the living room and waiting for it, sitting in dead silence. Kakuzu amused himself by thumbing through Zetsu's discarded dictionary while Koji fidgeted anxiously on the sofa like one of those trembling, rat dogs. Finally, after a few minutes, Kari served with their tea which Kakuzu politely thanked her for before she seated herself on the couch beside her father.

Kakuzu sipped the hot beverage before speaking. "Alright, let us talk about how we are going my partner back."

"Y-Yes." Koji agreed.

"What happened, dad?" Kari asked, cautiously removing the steaming hot tea from her father's quavering hands before he accidently spilt it and burned himself.

"In a nutshell: your father hired me about a problem with the Moku and a Howaito Auto. Apparently, while we were speaking, either someone of the Moku overheard us, or decided to play a cruel prank and kidnap you. However, who they kidnapped instead was my partner and now your father is going to help me get her back." Looking at her now, Kakuzu could see the resemblance between Kari and Zetsu.

Both were approximatively the same height, although Zetsu of slightly smaller stature and while Kari had black hair like her father, it could had been easily mistaken if Zetsu had her hood on. Also, she was currently wearing that foreshadowed pink jacket was practically identical to the one Konan had bought Zetsu and may have originated from the same store chain. Basically, he could understand now why the two girls had been confused for one another.

"Oh." She muttered, nodding. Although she still did not understand, she decided not to ask any more questions about it because honestly, she was slightly intimidated by this nameless houseguest her father had brought.

"H-How am I supposed to help?" Koji questioned timidly, attempting to soothe his riled nerves with the Chamomile tea.

"Simple. These bastards think they've kidnapped your daughter so one of two things shall happen now. Either one, they do not realize they've snatched the wrong girl and attempt to extort you for ransom. If they do, then they'll likely ask to meet up for the exchange and I'll leave with you in order to fetch my partner back, with or without a fight."

"W-What if they don't ask for ransom?"

"Then either they're idiots, or they've realized their mistake and will release her or kill her."

"Oh—"

"Understand now?" Kakuzu deadpanned and Koji nodded, sipping at his tea more until Kari had to take it back again before he scalded his mouth. "Or, if you know the whereabouts of the Moku, that would be perfect too because I can go there now and murder those motherfuckers and save my partner myself."

"W-We don't…"

"No one here has ever shadowed one back to whatever hellhole they've crawled out of?"

"I-It's too dangerous!"

Kakuzu snorted and Koji flinched, sinking into the sofa. "Alright then. Is there anywhere in Oashisu which might be a suspected base for the Moku? I'd rather not sit on my ass and wait for the worse here." Koji shook his head, but after a minute, Kari timidly raised her hand like she was in a classroom.

"Well," She started, lowering her hand and staring down at her glass of orange juice. "If I were a bad guy, I'd hide somewhere where no one would find me. Like, underground or somewhere empty where no one would think to look?"

Kakuzu snorted again but with approval, nodding. "So then, are there any questionable holes or abandoned buildings around?"

"N-No. Because Oashisu is a tradepost, we get a l-lot of tourists so everything stays open." Koji dismissed quickly.

"What about the theater?" Kari asked, capturing a bewildered look from her father.

"Theater?" He repeated.

She nodded. "Remember? The theater that you and mom used to bring me to when she was alive? It had the puppet shows."

"Oh," Koji mumbled and winced at the mention of his deceased wife causing to Kari frown, instantly feeling guilty for accidently bringing up her mother.

"Theater?" Kakuzu impatiently inquired, interrupting whatever real life theatrics was happening.

"Yes. There was a t-theater here that played movies and shows. It c-closed a few years because of the war when Sunagakure drafted the a-actors and staff and the e-entire entertainment district was a-abandoned."

Kakuzu sighed. "Better than nothing. I'll start there." He finished his tea before standing up, ready to leave to find Zetsu before she was executed or sold off then kill these Moku motherfuckers and this Howaito Auto bastard then collect his pathetic payday. God, what a lot of labour for nothing.

However, the moment he did, the doorbell rang and there was the metallic clank of the mail slot. Instinctively, Kari stood up to retrieve the mail but Kakuzu delicately caught her wrist to stop her, making her stare at him, startled and slightly afraid.

"You're supposed to be kidnapped, remember?" He placidly reminded her. She muttered an 'oh' and nodded, forgetting already. He released her and gestured at Koji to fetch the mystery mail instead, the skittish man scrambling to his feet and walking to the front door.

There was a single letter laying on the floor with his name incorrectly scrawled on it and he peeked outside through the window to steal a glimpse at anyone who might have left it. There was no one except his neighbours chattering outside and he picked up the letter before returning to the living room.

"There was a l-letter." He said, handing it to Kakuzu who outstretched his hand for it. "They m-misspelt my name."

Kakuzu looked over the letter. It was in a plain, white envelope with Koji's name printed on the outside but instead spelt with a 'C'. Using a thread, he cleaved it open and tossed the envelope aside as he unfolded the note inside. It been written in atrocious handwriting and was riddled with more spelling mistakes. Clearing his throat, he read it aloud.

"Dear Koji—spelt with a C—we have your dauter— _daughter._ If you want her back safelee— _safely_ —, the Mokoo— _Moku_ , how the hell do you misspell your own damn organization—demands the some— _sum_ —of one million riyo— _ryo_ —in cash by even— _evening—_ today by the park foutin— _fountain._ Come alone and if you do not bring the money or show up, we will kill her."

" _O-O-One million ryo!?_ " Koji gasped, virtually becoming white and Kari used a napkin off the table to franticly fan him before he fainted. "I-I don't have o-one million ryo!"

"You don't need one million ryo," Kakuzu grumbled, having removed his sunglasses and was massaging his bloodshot eyes to prevent a migraine from spawning behind them after reading that abomination against language. "I've done this before. Do you own a briefcase or suitcase?"

"I do." Kari responded. Once she was reassured her father wouldn't black out, she sprung off the sofa and left the living room, vanishing into the bowels of the house. A minute later, she reemerged, heaving along a large, matching pink suitcase. Kakuzu scowled. He was seriously starting to loathe that colour.

She passed it to him and he evaluated it, unzipping the main compartment to judge the depth of it and estimate it could fit hypothetically one million ryo in bills inside. Once he confirmed it could, he set it open faced on the floor and stared at the father and daughter.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do."

…

"You're sure he'll show up?"

"Yes! Why wouldn' he when got his daughter?"

"I don't know. Just starting to think that million ryo was too much to ask." Naozumi mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "Also, we didn't bring her with so what if he refuses to hand over the money because we don't have his daughter?"

"Quit whinin'. He'll show up n' if he don't give us the money, we'll jus' kick the shit outta him for it!" Naoyuki scolded, peering over the concrete rim of the fountain for any sign of their victim before sitting back down behind it and sighing. "N' we couldn't risk that girl runnin'. We'll jus' dump her after we git the money."

"Maybe you should have been more specific about the time."

"Shut up!"

It was nighttime and Naozumi and Naoyuki were waiting for their victim to arrive as per the instructions of the ransom note they had left through his mail slot. Everything had been meticulously schemed between the twins, from the location being in an emptier section of Oashisu to avoid witnesses, to the time and their plan once Koji appeared with the money, if he ever did. It had been a hour since they had laid in wait with nothing yet except a stray dog trotting through the deserted street and a local hobo stumbling by to the saloon. Naoyuki was getting impatient, while Naozumi was starting to question if that this had been a wise idea and all this preparation for nothing. Another half-an-hour ticked by and the duplicates were ready to call it quits when in the distance, someone was approaching from down the lonesome, dirt road.

The person was impossible to name, the nightfall cloaking their face and them being too far off. However, as they neared and walked underneath the golden light of the flickering streetlight, the two men were able to determine their identity. It was Koji.

Koji shuffled apprehensively towards the stone fountain, hauling his daughter's pink suitcase in his trembling arms. His widened emerald orbs darted in their sleep-deprived sockets in search for any suspicious movements or evidence of Moku skulking in the shadows. When he tiptoed closer, Naozumi and Naoyuki lunged forth from either side of the bubbling reservoir and Koji scuttled backwards with the reflexes of a spooked rodent.

"Ya Koji?" Naoyuki asked, extending his hand and ushering at him. "Hand over the cash."

Koji hugged the cumbersome luggage against his chest, vigorously shaking his head. "N-Not b-before my daughter. Where's my Kari!?"

"We ain't givin' ya your daughter 'til you give us the money. We gonna hafta beat ya for it?" Naoyuki cast a sidelong glance at Naozumi who understood the signal and stepped aggressively towards Koji in a weak attempt at intimidation.

However, it was successful as the anxious man proceeded to quake and a cold sweat sprung forth through every pore on his body, causing his shaking grasp to also become slippery and threaten to lose handle on the suitcase. He swallowed thickly, eyes glancing off to the side and searching the darkness submerging the surrounding buildings for guidance to his seemingly dire situation. After a solid minute, he received the answer he had been desperately searching for and returned his gaze on the brothers, swallowing again—then, abruptly, he thrusted the baggage toward them. It startled the duo as Naoyuki fumbled with the suitcase for a moment, having not expected the sudden turnabout.

"T-There! Now g-give me Kari!"

The duo exchanged looks then shared a coordinated smirk before refocusing on the sucker shopkeeper. "Sure. We got your daughter right here."

Without warning, Naozumi pushed Koji, sending him tumbling to the ground and buying their escape as the men took off running down the road with the suitcase in hand. Koji recovered quickly, screaming after them but did not give pursuit as in those few seconds, they had managed to flee down the street before diverging into the surrounding bush and vanishing. They resumed running into the dusky desert until their lungs became starved for oxygen and their calves burned. Their pace slowed into a jog before both stopped, panting and heaving but grinning.

"I…I can't believe that worked…" Naozumi huffed and stared at his counterpart, blue eyes glistening with unshed tears from overwhelming happiness. "I'll never doubt you again, Yuki."

"Damn right." Naoyuki replied, straightening up once he caught his breath again. "Come on, let's find us'selves somewhere to open our jackpot!"

The brothers walked the arid outskirts of Oashisu before finding a moonlit patch to count their winnings in and seated themselves underneath. Their ransom was hurled between them, the hefty, rose-coloured luggage pluming sand upon impacting the ground and they gathered around it.

"We'll open it together," Naoyuki proclaimed, snagging one of the silver zippers while Naozumi took the other. "On three: One…two…three!" Both zippers were drawn around and together, the suitcase was pitched open as they anticipated rows and rows of beautiful green bills. However, the reality was far uglier—and blacker.

It looked like the baggage had been filled to the brim with thick, black yarn while a single, white porcelain mask with beady, black eyes accented with blue markings and a frowning beak laid out atop it.

"That bastard tricked us!" Naoyuki shouted, yanking out fistfuls of his purple locks while Naozumi stared at the real contents in puzzlement, trying to decipher them.

"What is it?"

"It ain't money!"

"Maybe the money is hidden underneath?" Naozumi shrugged. He attempted to comb the threading away but when his fingers came in contact with it, there was a shuddering and it gurgled, making him yelp. He cowered behind Naoyuki and the brothers backed away as the strange substance convulsed violently and burbled, causing the baggage to tremble.

Suddenly, a stream of the thread thrusted upward and arched toward the ground, spreading out into four thinner extension which replicated fingers. Another makeshift limb jutted out before the rest of the tendrils swamped out of the suitcase across the sand like an oil spill with the mask floating along with it. More disturbing shuddering happened and the siblings watched, shaking and horrified, as a mass lifted itself off the ground with its gangling arms and inflated the dark cording to resemble a body with the mask positioned in the middle like a face. The false face stared at them for a moment before the bottom half detached and it released a screeching, trumpeting which the men echoed with their own terrified yelling and embraced each other when the creature lunged at them.

"I knew they'd be runners." Kakuzu muttered in response to the shrieking and blaring, leaving the dark alleyway he had been waiting in during the transaction and Koji flinched, temporarily forgetting he had been there. "By that atrocious letter, I was correct in assuming that they weren't the smartest bunch."

The bloodcurdling screaming all of a sudden stopped and Koji swallowed. "Did you kill them?"

"No. They're too valuable for me to kill right now. Amatsu is just apprehending them." Kakuzu dismissed, crossing his arms while he awaited his elemental to return with its prey. Koji waited too, as curious as he was mortified.

Minutes later, a large, grotesque creature emerged from the inky darkness of the badlands, its white face twitching in search before staring at them. It scuttled down the road back towards them like an engorged lizard and sprawled in front of the fountain, belching. Kakuzu affectionately patted Amatsu on the back like an old mutt and it gurgled. Koji winced at the monstrosity despite having met it earlier when conceiving their plan along its "siblings", much to Kari's pleasure.

"Release." Kakuzu snapped his fingers and Amatsu clamoured back upright. A gapping mouth-like hole materialized underneath its mask and it audibly retched once then twice before regurgitated the twins onto the ground like spoiled food. It gagged again and spat out the obnoxiously pink suitcase also which Kakuzu caught and tossed to Koji.

"Leave. Your assistance here is done," Kakuzu told Koji, thrusting his thumb over his shoulder. "I'll contact you again for payment after I've finished with the Moku and Howaito Auto." Koji nodded, he didn't have to be told twice, as he sprinted back home at breakneck speed, disappearing in a dust cloud.

Once gone, Kakuzu fixated his attention on his two identical guests who were both unconscious, eye whites visible and jaws agape, obviously having blacked out from the horrific experience of being eaten alive. He delivered a hard kick against each of their backs with his steel toed boot to rouse them, gifting a second one when the first failed to awaken them. It was successful, as Naozumi woke first with Naoyuki doing so seconds later, both groaning and rubbing their aching backs synchronously. However, their groaning transformed into screaming at witnessing Amatsu who was passively hunched over them. It croaked idly and Kakuzu scowled, digging out his ringing ear with his pinky from their screeching.

"Shut up." He barked and snapped his fingers again. Amatsu reacted immediately to the unuttered order and grabbed ahold of the men, its groping fingers casting out and winding themselves around them, pinning their arms against their abdomen before spreading upward and blanketing across their mouths, muffling further wailing. Once restrained, Kakuzu leant over the brothers who were feebly wriggling in Amatsu's tethers and mutely yelling, eyes dilated and watering.

"Alright. I've got a few questions for you both. If you either fail to answer them, or lie, you'll be subject to my favourite past time: torture. Understood?" It was a rhetorical question, but one twin readily nodded while the other glowered and muttered unintelligibly which Kakuzu assumed to be derogatory towards him. "I'll start with you then. Where is the girl?"

Amatsu unmasked him so he could answer and Naoyuki scowled. "We ain't got her."

"Where is she then?"

"Ain't nowhere!" Obviously, that was a blatant without Kakuzu requiring to read his facial quirks or eye contact, and he was being plain rude so he snapped his fingers again.

"Wrong." Amatsu blanketed his mouth with threads again, except this time, it also clogged up his nose and the beast leant over his face, opening its hooked cavity.

There was burbling in its throat then a cascade of ice cold water poured onto his face. Naoyuki screamed and thrashed, the obscuration of his nose and mouth not permitting any water into those orifices but instead the restriction of air and wetness mimicked the sensation of drowning. After a minute, the waterflow stopped as Amatsu closed its mouth and the tendrils suffocating Naoyuki temporarily parted, enabling to him to breathe again as he gasped vociferously and wheezed.

Kakuzu switched his attention to the second man, who was staring at his brother and sobbing into his restraints. "Your turn. Where is the girl?"

"I—I d-don't know!" Naozumi whimpered once his mouth was freed but Kakuzu didn't buy his stuttered answer, snapping his fingers and Amatsu gagged him again, delivering the same torture to him as his breathing was hampered and water poured onto his face. Naoyuki gasped, staring horrified at his twin's jerking and kicking as he was waterboarded too. Amatsu yielded a minute later and Naozumi choked once freed, coughing so hard he vomited onto himself.

"Let's try this again. Where is the girl?"

"She ain't nowhere…so fuck off!" Naoyuki hissed and spat at Kakuzu, the spitwad landing on his rather expensive leather coat. The elder scowled, the little insult enough to trigger his temper and snapped his fingers, Amatsu blocking his nose and mouth with its black threading again. However, it was interrupted before it could deliver him a second dose of torture.

"Theater! S-She's at the theater!" Naozumi cried and Naoyuki glared at him. Kakuzu prevented Amatsu from continuing by resting his hand on against its mask as he focused on this new revelation. It appeared he found their weak link.

"The abandoned theater?" He questioned and Naozumi nodded curtly without hesitation.

"Y-Yes! I promise—I promise! P-Please…just leave Yuki alone." He hiccupped, weeping and red faced with seeping snot and leftover bile in a disgusting show. It was pathetic, but it was the truth as Kakuzu flicked Amatsu and the aquatic creature backed off, unravel its fingers from Naoyuki nose so he was capable of breathing through it. However, it kept his mouth muzzled so he could not fling anymore insults or bodily fluids at him. Kakuzu spotlighted his intentness on the meeker twin instead.

"She's in the theater. Is the Moku there?" He asked. Naozumi hesitated.

"I—I…they're…err…" Before he could conjure together a weak lie, Kakuzu snapped his fingers. Amatsu recovered Naozumi's face and upchucked a torrent of water onto it without hesitation, Naoyuki shouted his name and struggled fruitlessly against his bindings.

It eased off after a few extra seconds but when unveiled its threading from Naozumi's face, he didn't automatically gasp for breath or move, jaw slacked and eyes closed. Kakuzu thought he may have accidently been suffocated and was prepared to have Rājan revive him when he suddenly jolted up, gulping for air like a beached fish and trembling.

"Y-Yes…" Naozumi panted, the last waterboarding leaving him light-headed and exhausted, physically and mentally—he had successfully been broken with minimal effort to Kakuzu's pleasure. Naoyuki sighed, disappointed. "The Moku…are there."

"How many?" Kakuzu pressed.

"A dozen—p-plus us."

"Is Howaito Auto there?"

"N-No…" It didn't sound entirely truthful and Amatsu leant over him, clicking its beak and drooling onto his forehead. Predictably, it made Naozumi squirm. "H-He isn't! I-I promise! He leaves in the m-mornings and nights! I promise—I promise!" That was better.

"Where is he?"

"We don't know—he never tells us where is going. Just says on business." Kakuzu sighed. It wasn't the answer he had wanted, but there was no evidence of it being lie and it would have to suffice.

There was little left to inquire about, and asking pointless questions would sacrifice the little time Zetsu might have left before they potentially disposed of her. So, he snapped his fingers and Amatsu sat up on its stubby hindlegs. Keeping the siblings leashed, it wrenched them off the dirty ground and stood them up on their feet. Naozumi faltered and required extra support to keep upright while Naoyuki remained muzzled like a rabid hound.

"Now then, this is what we're going to do. You two are going to lead me to this theater and the Moku. If you either attempt to take me on a wild goose chase or take too long, I can promise you that what happened right now will pale in comparison to what I'll do to you later. Understood?" Kakuzu stated and Naozumi eagerly nodded in agreement while Naoyuki scowled behind his spit guard. Satisfied, he gestured at Amatsu who trumpeted at them to start walking. Naozumi did so while Naoyuki literally dragged his feet and had to be escorted.

The obedient brother led them into the establishment side of Oashisu, which contained its businesses such as expensive stores and food stands which justified it being a tourist trap. Everything had shut down for the night expect a random inn and odd corner store with no one walking the dim streets or exiting outside to investigate the suspicious scene of a masked man with an abomination walking two other men in the middle of the night or the earlier screaming. Perhaps, the residents were not permitted to do so by their Moku dictators, Kakuzu hypothesized.

Eventually, Naozumi led them down a pitch-black alleyway and Kakuzu prepared himself for a potential ambush if the Moku were lurking about. Thankfully—for his guests' sake—it hadn't been a trap nor did it appear anyone was patrolling outside. There was a chain-link fence barring the exit of the passageway which was easily pushed aside to grant entrance to the vacated entertainment district.

Refurbished spotlights and decorative lighting brightly illuminated the sector to substitute the defunct street lights and rotting wood and seating recycled into barriers laid indiscriminately on the red brick leading to the theater like a battlefield. The theater itself was dilapidated with fortified metal doors and a grand neon sign swaying ominously over the entrance which threatened squash anyone unfortunate enough to be standing underneath it when it finally fell.

Satisfied, Kakuzu snapped his fingers and Amatsu brought the twins to a halt at the bottom of the incline towards the cinema. The threading fastened around them unraveled to release their arms but kept a minuscule hold on them with a single fiber to prevent them from immediately fleeing.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Kakuzu announced, evacuating his gloves from his pocket and tugging them on. "Because you two have been so cooperative, I'll kill you last after I've killed all your friends. I'll even give you a ten second head start. Ready? Go." Amatsu released them and neither man hesitated to dart, running for their lives towards the theater while Kakuzu calmly counted down the seconds in his head.

Kappei had been casually conversing with another Moku member when someone, or someones, smashed against the entrance doors then erratically pounded on them. He sighed, guessing who their guests were, and as he walked towards the entryway, he also heard screaming over the deafening knocking. He unlocked them and the metal doors were kicked open, almost hitting him in the process, and Naozumi and Naoyuki tumbled inside, both sopping wet and looking petrified.

"Close the fucking doors!" Naoyuki yelled.

"What have you two done this time?" Kappei sighed, shaking his head at the two as he went to shut and relock the door. However, as he did, he caught a glimpse of a hulking figure approaching the theater, shrouded in darkness despite the glaring spotlights and eyes reflecting a piercing emerald stare submerged in suffused blood. He hurled the doors closed and scrambled to latch them. "What have you two done this time!?"

"It was Zumi! He brought that bastard here!" Naoyuki pointed accusingly at his brother and Naozumi erupted into tears.

"He was going to kill us, Yuki!" He wailed. "What was I supposed to do!?"

"Wh—?" However, Kappei could not finish his question when suddenly, the metal doors were thrusted open with a single strike and he was sent soaring into the aisle with them crashing after, inches from decapitating him. Naozumi and Naoyuki screamed and retreated backstage to hide while the rest of Moku rushed towards the pandemonium. Shinju arrived and assisted up Kappei.

Kakuzu crouched through the undersized doorway and was instantly surrounded by a flock of scowling men, each armed with an ineffective weapon. He stepped further inside and a few backed up while the others pointed their armaments at him. He ignored their futile intimidation and searched around the hollowed-out theater until resting his gaze on a suspicious, human-like package laying on center stage. He recognized the offensive, pink pants sticking out.

"Zetsu." He bellowed and the pink package jolted up.

"S-S-Sir!?" It was Zetsu.

That clarified, Kakuzu addressed his gathering entourage. "I'll be taking her back now," He explained, cracking his knuckles. "If anyone has an objection to that, I'll happily answer it by punching your teeth down your throat. Now, step aside or die now rather than later." His friendly warning though fell upon deaf ears as the members of Moku took the offensive and attacked Kakuzu with their weapons primed. He sighed—it would be the hard way then.

He activated his Doton and the weapons battering him ricocheted harmlessly off his brass skin, stunning their wielders and he took advantage of their vulnerability to deliver a round kick and send them flying in multiple directions across the old auditorium. Those wise enough not to besiege him with meager weaponry threw punches and he blocked them with his hardened limbs, causing them to break fingers and toes on the metallic surface and while distracted with the pain, he kicked them away also. His initial assailants dispatched and recovering, he stole the chance to run down the center aisle towards the stage to rescue Zetsu. However, Shinju and Kappei intercepted him, equipped with shanks. Each took turns stabbing at him and he entertained them as fluently bobbed and weaved around their blades, doing so for a minute until growing bored.

Kakuzu caught Kappei's knife between his dense fingers, capturing his fist and bending his wrist at an impossible angle, then breaking his arm at the elbow in the process and causing the balding man to plunge the knife into his own shoulder. He collapsed, screaming while switching between cradling his bowed arm and bleeding shoulder. Shinju jumped behind Kakuzu, dagger aimed at his skull. The whistling of the knife slicing through the air forewarned him to the attempted sneak attack and Kakuzu caught his hand also. He wrenched down the other man's arm over his shoulder and shattered his elbow. Shinju screeched and joined his colleague on the floor as both nestled their broken bones while withering and wailing.

Kakuzu leapt onto the theater platform and tended to Zetsu who had been bagged like a cadaver. He unveiled her from the tattered bag and the first thing his attention was drawn to was blood; a lot of blood. It was crusted on her face, underneath her nose and layered inside her ear, with a dark, curdled patch of crimson and matted green hair on her head. It appeared that they had rendered her unconscious at one point using a blunt object. Hopefully, it had resulted in just a bad concussion and not a fractured skull that would have to be addressed later. He untied her arms and once freed, Zetsu did not hesitate to lethargically tussle to her feet and attach herself to Kakuzu's leg, burrowing her face against it—too relieved in that moment.

"S-Sir…" She whimpered, sniffling pathetically and he sighed but did not reject her. Instead, he rested his hand gently atop her head and massaged his fingertips against her scalp to soothe her. He'd scold her later for being kidnapped.

"Are you alright, girl?" He asked, although the answer was obvious.

"Hurt. Owie. Bad."

"Can you walk? No—can you run?"

"Run?" Zetsu reuttered, smearing the mixtures of dried blood and her tears onto his slacks before staring up at him with waterlogged eyes. "Err…yes run. Run nows?"

"Yes, run now." Kakuzu investigated the scattered Moku members who were recuperating, including Kappei and Shinji. "Listen—I'm going to open a path for you. When I say, I want you to run for the exit and keep running. Do not stop running until you either find someone to help you or somewhere to hide. I'll retrieve you later after I've finished here. Understood?"

"Understood." Zetsu quietly confirmed, much to his surprise. It had been the first time she had answered him accordingly and he patted her cheek in approval, making her wince when he unintentionally rattled her pained brain. He stepped off the stage while the teenager stayed back, anxiously awaiting the signal to run.

Obviously, these men were ruffians and not shinobi as instead of flashing a flurry of handsigns and overwhelming him with a multitude of jutsu, they salvaged their weapons and advanced on Kakuzu for another wave. He had been generous before, but now, he'd do as he originally sworn and murder the pretending gang for interfering with his business. Afterward, he'd wait patiently for this Howaito Auto and kill him too for his paycheck then leave this godforsaken township.

He cracked his neck and exhaled deeply before lunging at the two staggered men who were currently blocking Zetsu's pathway to safety. He grabbed the mohawked man's collar first and triggered the casting of his forehead before colliding their heads together, the impact emitting a ringing with the cracking bone of Shinju's skull. Kakuzu chucked the limp male aside into the arms of his descending associates. Kappei yelled out in rage and jabbed his blade at the intruder, missing him and Kakuzu caught his wrist. He brought the arm down onto his knee, breaking it in half like a twig before stealing the skewer and pierced it through his opponent's jaw. Kappei gagged on the blade and his own blood pouring down his throat from his sundered cheeks before toppling backwards.

"Girl, run! Run!"

Zetsu scurried off the stage, tumbling off and onto the carpeted floor a foot below. She stumbled to her feet and fled past Kakuzu towards the entrance. A Moku member attempted to apprehend her as he dove after. He was met with Kakuzu's detached fist which thrusted into his face and sent him into a wall. She made it to the entryway and retreated through without looking back, doing as told and kept running once outside. Kakuzu sighed, linking his hand back onto his wrist as he flexed his fingers and leered at the remaining recruits—at least ten plus the two men he had started with if they had miraculously survived. Although, he did not know where the twins had gone but like he had promised, he would kill them last.

"Let's finish this." Kakuzu charged toward a group of four men tending to their unconscious teammate previously thrown at them.

He grabbed a hold of one man's ugly mug and smashed it into his neighbour's uglier face, blood and teeth spraying in every direction. Two remained and one released the unconscious Shinji and hurtled at Kakuzu, an iron pipe in hand. The felon caught aerial man by the ankle and launched him into the rafters far overhead where he struck one of the active spotlights. It flickered, short circuiting as naked skin met live wiring with the metal piping clenched in the thug's fist behaving as a conductor and he screamed out as he proceeded to be electrocuted. Broken glass and sparks showered down succeeded seconds later by a smouldering body as it crashed to the floor, burning flesh and hair polluting the air.

His immediate friends either dead or dying, Kakuzu pinpointed his attention on the last man standing and the goon abandoned Shinju, backing up and shivering as the behemoth's bleeding gaze gleaming sinisterly at him through the darkness of his sunglasses. He attempted to turn and flee but Kakuzu was faster than he could ever dream to be and snatched the back of his collar, hoisting him up to eyelevel. He snarled and the man flinched, cowering as he shielded his stubbled face with his hands in preparation."

"Release him or this girl is dead." A voice spoke, interrupting Kakuzu before he could rearrange his latest guest's face into something the least bit attractive. While he did not release him, he lowered the man and glowered at the newest arrival—another man standing at the entrance—his presentation meretricious with his unblemished white suit identical to his bleached facial hair and slicked back locks.

One hand was casually tucked in his trousers pocket while his other clenched a machete with his arm flexed in a headlock—captured in that headlock was Zetsu. She had been rendered unconscious again as evidence by her whited eyes and the fresh river of blood dribbling from her lips. Kakuzu muttered a quick swear mentally.

"I'll assume that you're Howaito Auto?" He asked. The ostentatious man smirked and itched his blemishes, confirming his suspicions before an answer.

"Yes—and I'll assume that you're Akatsuki?"

"Yes." Kakuzu confirmed, deciding that explaining he wasn't would be idiotic at a moment like this.

Auto nodded and glanced at his frightened lackey before returning his gaze back onto Kakuzu. "Now, if you please." He ushered him with his sabre before replacing it against Zetsu's throat.

Kakuzu scowled, but he did as asked and surrendered the Moku member who immediately scrambled away towards his compatriots who had been standing on the sidelines. Satisfied, Auto eased his weapon off the girl's neck but did not release her as he kept her apprehended.

"I thought something was bizarre when while out for my nightly scroll when the shopkeeper—Koji—ran into me looking rather panicked and holding a suitcase. On a hunch, I backtracked his footsteps and saw a suspicious figure with a freakish pet torturing two of my men. I knew they'd give up the Moku's location since they have a knack of being loose-lipped so I shadowed you back here. But, when I did, this _darling_ girl collided into me and I recognized her as being Koji's daughter that had been kidnapped earlier," Auto explained, tapping the blunt side of the knife against the top of Zetsu's head. "But, she wasn't his daughter because the hair colour is all wrong and I realized she had to belong to someone. Would that be you?"

Kakuzu sneered in response which disguised his confliction with a select section of the tale. _'He followed us this entire time? I never sensed his chakra and neither did Amatsu. He must have been hiding it with an advanced jutsu. Goddammit! Goddammit again Zetsu!'_

Auto took his silence and grimacing as answer enough. "Well, I was going to give her back since I'd rather not have any trouble for the Moku until we can relocate from this hellhole to our next target. However, you've not just tortured my men, but also maimed them by a quick glance around. So, for that, I'll just kill her."

"She has nothing to do with this." Kakuzu urged, holding his hand out in a stopping motion and took a step forward.

Auto smirked. "That so? Then in that case, how about a little duel?" He said, nudging his spectacles back onto his missing nose and yanked Zetsu's head back with a handful of her grassy hair. "To the winner goes the spoils." Kakuzu scowled.

He should have killed this arrogant bastard once he started jabbered his jaw. However, with Zetsu there now, he wouldn't make it two steps before Howaito Auto slit her throat like the coward he had exhibited himself as being. No dignified person took a child hostage. It wasn't that he didn't think he couldn't murder this motherfucker, but would be such a burden to fight this bastard instead of just breaking him in half over his knee. In his current position though, he had no choice of he wanted to retrieve his partner back alive. So, he would have to play along for now. He'd just end it quickly.

"Fine."

"Perfect. I haven't had a satisfactory fight since the Second World War when I fought the Mayfly. Naozumi and Naoyuki! Where is Naozumi and Naoyuki?"

Moments later, Naozumi and Naoyuki shuffled out onto the stage from backstage, hiding behind one of the red curtains. Auto gestured the duplicates over and both stared apprehensively at Kakuzu who was standing idly below. After taking a moment to embolden themselves, they scurried off the platform and around Kakuzu to their biding boss. The rest of the Moku's angered and criticizing gazes for bringing this upon them washed over them as they ran past.

"Since you two caused this, you can babysit her," Howaito Auto stated, tossing Zetsu into Naoyuki's arms and the machete to Naozumi. "Can I trust you with this tiniest of tasks?"

"Yes, sir." Both answered.

Appeased, Auto approximated himself to Kakuzu so both men were positioned feet apart. The Moku withdrew out of the pending battlefield and heaved away weeded up theater chairs and unconscious colleagues to remove any potential obstacles. Once finished, the men stood back to enthusiastically watch their superior beat the shit out this bastard who had sauntered in and attacked them. Howaito Auto unfastened one of the multiple jugs from his belt and drank from it, chugging down all the ice-cold water inside. He sighed and tossed the empty bottle aside, wiping the excess liquid from his mustached lips as he narrowed his red orbs at Kakuzu.

"Let us begin then." He announced then took a fighting stance. Kakuzu grunted in reply but did not take his own offensive stance as he stood straight, reading his challenger's posture. It was mediocre, either being accidental or purposeful which hinted at a trap. However, he was too impatient to finish this—and frankly irked—and would accept the former this time. It might be foolish but nothing about this person intimidated him. A random Moku member shouted to begin.

Instantly, Kakuzu lunged, having identified the exploitation within milliseconds and he thrusted his fist towards Auto. Auto made no motion to dodge it—instead just smirking. Suddenly, inches from punching the albino's obnoxious face, he exploded into a smoke cloud. The exhaust engulfed Kakuzu's fist and arm and the usurer realized it wasn't smoke from a substitution jutsu as it was scorching hot. He leapt back out of range of the billowing fog and unfurled his burning hand, observing it. His glove had protected the majority it and his jacket his arm but his bare fingers had suffered as they were pink, the layer of tanned skin had been melted off and were rapidly blistering. He winced.

"What's amatter?" Auto taunted, invisible within the unknown smog. "Never seen Steam Release before?" The Moku hooped and hollered at witnessing their leader's infamous Kekkei Genkai.

' _Steam Release?'_ Kakuzu thought, sneering. No, he hadn't. He had heard about the Kekkei Genkai though. It originated from Kirigakure and its users rumoured to be have been killed off during the Second World War. By the Mayfly too. That was the extent of his knowledge however as he knew nothing about its physical capabilities—but he was a quick learner.

He glowered at the expanding steam cloud and clenched his injured fist before lunging towards it. His Doton activated again, coating his hand in polished brass which safeguarded it from the scalding heat as he punched it into the mist towards Auto. However, instead of meeting the other man, there was nothing as his fist harmlessly wafted through the steam and expelled it, revealing the man was missing.

"Here I am." Auto's snickering voice escaped the gloom behind Kakuzu and the older man hardly managed to turn his head towards it when a steam-powered fist ejected through it and punched him in the face, sending him stumbling a single step.

He cradled his faintly stinging cheek and scowled. _'This bastard is invisible. I cannot feel his chakra. That must have been how he managed to stalk us without either I or Amatsu noticing.'_

Auto's crowing laughter whooped at him. "Hmm, why don't we make this interesting? Every time I get a hit on you, my men get to punch that little girl of yours. Yes, let's do that. Naozumi and Naoyuki! One punch for our little guest."

Naoyuki smirked, saluting. "Yes, sir!" He handed Zetsu to Naozumi who held the inanimate teenage up with the sabre against her throat. Naoyuki cracked his knuckles before winding up his fist and bringing it across Zetsu's cheek. The punch managed to awaken her as she yelped out and her honey-glazed orbs flew open, wide and startled. Kakuzu snarled and took a step in their direction but Auto intercepted him, hot steam fanning his face and causing the skin to tingle.

"No, no, no. This is our match, remember? If you forfeit, then we get to kill her. So, I suggest you keep playing unless you want her back dead. However, if you keep losing like this, then she'll just be beaten to death before we finish."

"Bastard." Kakuzu swore, turning in the direction the voice was emitting from but he saw nothing as the thick steam obscured his vision.

A moment later though, there was visible movement inside the vapour and Kakuzu spied a silhouette which resembled an arm. It was being cocked back and he lifted his own earth-infused arm to block the incoming punch this time. Then, it wasn't just one arm, it was five simultaneously glimmering and spiraling in a kaleidoscopic display. Each shimmered and gyrated hypnotically and were thrown at him. He thwarted the fists but when he impeded them, each evaporated into a rainbowic mist until one was remaining. He didn't have the time to block it also and it turned out to be the real as it hit him square in the face.

He stepped back, touching his throbbing nose. _'The water particles of the_ _steam mirrors objects inside so it appears like there is several of it._ _That was the reason I could not decipher which was real and not and he was able to hit me.'_ He noted it. _'What a fucking obnoxious Kekkei Genkai.'_

Auto howled with the Moku echoing his hoopla-ing. "Another for me!"

Naozumi hoisted Zetsu up for another winning hit and she thrashed against him to escape despite the knife cutting into her skin. His strength was superior to hers though, as hers was beginning to diminish with the minor blood loss and multiple concussions. Naoyuki nailed her in the nose and the fragile cartilage busted, causing blood to gush out and she bawled in pain. Kakuzu clenched his teeth in reaction to her screaming, also his own blundering, until they threatened to crack when something diverted his attention—or rather a noise.

Zetsu's pathetic wailing had changed and instead of the hyperventilating, whooping she had been making, it had lowered into a heaving rattle. First, he thought she might be choking on blood pouring down her throat from her broken nose or experiencing a breathing attack, but when he got a decent look at her, he immediately knew neither was the case—far from it. Her eyes were large with the golden irises having gone lackluster, harbouring a devoid gaze staring at the floor, and blood tinted drool leaked from her quivering lips. He recognized that blank look and saw the forthcoming trouble—the calm before the storm.

' _Shit.'_ He thought.

"Forfeiting?" Howaito Auto disembodied voice jeered.

Kakuzu separated his thoughts off Zetsu and back to his ongoing feud the same moment that Auto was preparing another punch by the colourful emulations of his arm pranced about in dizzying circles. Kakuzu was ready this time, after learning from his mistake, and waited for the other man to throw the hit. Once he did, instead of counteracting the illusion to be punched again, he sent in his own ingot fist while eluding the opposition. It broke through the phantasms into the steam, he smirked when his fist made contact by the satisfying chiming of metal and the invisible man inside yelped out. The Moku gasped.

"Your cheap tricks won't work twice on me." He explained, flicking off the Earth Spear. "Release the girl, now."

Auto scoffed, ignoring the pain after being struck in the jaw by the equivalent of a metal bat. "Release her? Why should I?"

"Because if you don't, that girl is going to murder you, and everyone else here."

Howaito Auto erupted into abrupt laughter from the hilarious threat with the rest of the Moku echoing him. Even Naozumi and Naoyuki chimed in, neither noticing their jubilant sound was agitating their captive as she began twitching, blinking her hollow eyes rapidly and clicking her canines rhythmically together.

Kakuzu didn't share their hysterics. "I'm serious." He deadpanned and everyone roared louder, a few members practically rolling on the floor.

"What is she going to do? Cry on us?" One Moku member joked.

"I'm so afraid of her getting her tears on me!" Another one said and everyone crowed with renewed jest.

Zetsu's wheezing became more urgent in the background amongst the howling and the brunette looked at her. She was tremouring like a leaf in a hurricane and it might be mistaken she was having a panic attack, but he knew otherwise and found himself unconsciously tensing—she was on the brink.

"Zetsu." He attempted to pacify her, praying that hearing her own name might by enough to ground her in sanity.

It did nothing and he made the mistake of taking a step towards her. Naozumi quickly hushed his merriment and took the offensive, pressing the machete harder against her neck until the razor-sharp blade pierced skin and a trickle of blood dribbled down it. Then, Zetsu went dead silent and static, head bowed.

Naoyuki snickered. "She fainted 'gain? 'Bout time." Naozumi muttered a grunt then a strained noise in reply, his wettish face writhing into a grimace. Naoyuki quirked an eyebrow at his bizarre behavior then inhaled pointedly upon seeing blood pouring from his brother's quivering jaw and nose. He locked his startled gaze with his twin's matching blue eyes which were trembling in their sockets and dilated.

After which felt like an eternity, Naozumi lowered his widened eyes to his stomach where a thick, green appendage had impaled through it. It shuddered before melting into a white substance and withered into the girl's lower back where it had originated from. Naozumi stepped back, the machete clattering to the ground as he clenched his abdomen while syrupy, dark blood bubbled through his fingers. He could feel the throbbing of his intestines against his palms. He looked at his identical twin and tried to speak, but instead of words, blood spewed from his lips. He fell backwards onto the carpeted floor in a swelling pool of crimson and twitched for a manner of seconds before going still.

"Naozumi!"

Everyone went silent instantly upon Naoyuki's horrified yelling and stared at him before noticing his dead brother laid out on the ground to which there were gasps and muttering. Kakuzu sighed and muttered a swear, shaking his head. It has begun.

"You bitch!" Naoyuki snatched up the abandoned knife and rushed the motionless teenager, stabbing at her with a livid yell. Zetsu slowly lifted her head and stared at the incoming knife, amber orbs flickering. Then in a blink, Naoyuki found himself pinned against the ground with her atop him, her canines viced on his neck and before he was capable of realizing his plight, she had wrenched her head back and torn his out his throat in one gruesome fellswoop.

He gasped, blood frothed from his lips and he seized underneath her, clawing desperately at the carter left behind and fighting to breathe through it. It was fruitless and after several agonizing seconds, he went limp after having suffocated to death. Zetsu threw her head back, audibly purring and sloppily swallowing down the gory jugular. Everyone stared, frozen stiff from the instantaneous carnage and Kakuzu scowled, recognizing this all too familiar scenario.

' _Goddamnit, she's gone berserk just like the Mayfly Man. She'll kill everyone here and attempt to kill me if I don't fucking do something. Maybe if I jus—"_

"Kill her!" Came an urgent scream, shattering his thoughts. Zetsu turned her head towards it, red lips twitching back as she snarled when her potential meal was disturbed. Kakuzu glared at the person responsible and discovered Howaito Auto standing behind him, the camouflaging steam having thinned with his rival's trepidation.

The colourless-haired man stared at the girl who no more resembled a human being but one of the hellish abominations which haunted his darkest nightmares—the Mayfly. Like those during the Second World War which had slaughtered his clansmen and left him disfigured. Flashbacks plagued him and he heard the screaming of his brothers-in-arms also the crunching of bones and sundering of flesh including his own. His old war scars were aching again, and Auto started scratching his chin and nose to soothe them until his blunt nails were clawing off chunks of skin and his white goatee, leaving bleeding, raw cervices. ' _She has the Mayfly!'_

"Kill her!" He shouted again, pointing a blood-painted finger at Zetsu who arched her back in response, apparently aggravated by the gesture. None of the remaining Moku members reacted, however, mutely glancing at each other before staring their boss, their narrowed gazes obviously questioning his sanity and his wellbeing. They'd never seen his so scared of something or someone—or scared at all. "Kill her or you're all fired!" Again, no one moved despite the poor threat, their minds officially made that their lives were more valuable than their unpaying jobs. Although, their decision wouldn't manner.

Zetsu shrieked—an inhuman noise that mimicked the scream of a wildcat—and she pounced, galloping down the aisle. Kakuzu sidestepped her as she lunged at him first and caught her by the scruff, holding her out at arm's length.

"Girl, do not make me hurt you!" He warned, and the feedback he received was a high-pitched snarling and thrashing as she attempted to crane her head around to bite the hand latched onto her neck like a rabid animal.

Amidst her growling, there was a familiar humming and immediately recognizing it, the elder managed to activate his iron defense just when muscled, green limb thrusted out from her waist, aimed at his abdomen. It ricocheted off his hardened abs and in the process, he released her. The girl jerked herself around, landing on her hands and feet then leapt at him again, teeth snapping at his throat. He couldn't disband his jutsu to transfer it to his arm in the split second of next attack and had to shield his neck with his bare arm. Her jaws clamped onto the limb, canines piercing through the thick leather sleeve like paper and he cringed as they embedded themselves through the flesh and muscle underneath.

He didn't want to harm her—despite being so tempted to in this moment—since it would be detrimental towards him more so than her. He stole the opportunity while she dangled off his arm and locked his hand around her narrow throat, squeezing his fingers onto the pressure points located on it in order to render her unconscious with minimal damage. However, this Zetsu, though berserk and homicidal, was smarter than her dull counterpart and wised up quickly to his attempt. Kakuzu heard the telltale revving of her Mayfly and realized if she initiated it again, he would have to armour himself and it would enable her to escape to attack again. Then, they'd be repeating this redundant song and dance until she had accomplished in tearing out his throat—clever girl.

So, instead of counteracting her bloodline with his Kinjutsu, he cocked back his bleeding arm and swung it with enough force to dislodge the teenager, sending her soaring across the theater. Unfortunately, for the Moku, it was in their direction. Zetsu swiveled her spine, correcting herself mid-air and landing on all fours in the middle of the gathering of men who stumbled back away from her. Her crazed gaze darted around at each scared face staring at her then hissed, causing the criminals to instantly scatter away from her like startled prey. That did little in their favour as she grinned and proceeded to chase one at random, finding pleasure in the pursuit.

Kakuzu watched briefly before removing his arm from his trench coat and analyzing it for any serious damage. Despite the tan skin instantly darkening further with ugly bruising, she hadn't managed to break bone and the worse result would be another permanent scar and an infection from the bacteria lingering in the human mouth. He sighed and sewn up the bite markings along with the puncture holes in his jacket before focusing his attention on the main cause of all this.

Howaito Auto was standing feet away, apparently paralyzed by the old war flashbacks he was experiencing as he resumed itching his profusely sweating face, flakes of skin and blood drops raining off it—all while witnessing his men being hunted down like in the war again. He hadn't noticed Kakuzu approaching until the goliath had punched him in his disgusting face with enough strength to send him flying into the lip of the stage and making his body to somersault onto it. Auto grunted painfully, leaning up his forearms and glaring at his attacker through his broken lenses.

"You're an idiot." Kakuzu said, pointing his thumb at the developing bloodshed behind him. "I warned you not to fuck with her. Now she'll kill everyone here and it'll be your doing. Weren't you bragging before about fighting the Mayfly in the Second World War? If so, then why don't you go stop her before she kills your men. Or, you could continue be the coward you've proven yourself to be and leave them to die. Either or, it'll result in your death anyway."

Auto scowled, but made no urgent motions to rush to the aid of the people which epitomized his little organization as they shouted and fled about. This lack of action spoke volumes to Kakuzu as he walked towards the stage, cracking the joints in his fingers. "I've no respect for a man who betrays or abandons his own men. You'll die by my hand instead now."

He ejected a torrent of black threading at him and Auto triggered his Kekkei Genkai again before siege could assault him, fading into nothingness as steam billowed out of every pore on his person. This time, Kakuzu was prepared for his little tricks after playing along a bit.

"Daora." He muttered, receding his tendrils. Said mask detached itself off his back and slithered out from underneath his collar, massing itself onto his shoulder and perching itself like a bird, chirping at him in greeting.

He gestured at the fog and Daora lopped onto the stage. It inhaled, comically ballooning to its rupturing point until unleashing gale-strength winds onto the lingering gloom, making the theater groan as its rotten wooden structure shuddered and the tattered curtains shred into red strands. Instantly, the steam vanished as it was blown away, revealing Howaito Auto who sheltered his face with his hand and struggled to keep his footing on the platform against the tempest. It was futile though as he was picked up by the ravishing winds and pitched into the backstage where he collided with a plastic table and chairs. Kakuzu waved and Daora postponed the onslaught.

He ascended onto the stage and patted his wind element, receiving a fluttering its threadbare wings and rear wiggling in return, as he walked across to examine if his friend had survived the attack. He had, sadly, as Auto picked himself up off the broken furniture and prodded the back of his head where it had struck the wall. His fingers returned painted red and he scowled at Kakuzu as he straightened up.

Daora waddled beside its master and he pointed at the swindler for another barrage before he could regather himself. It heeded his request and proceeded to inflate again. It released another cyclone as Auto generated his release again to shield himself. This veil, however, was stronger than its earlier incarnations as larger plumes billowed out at a faster rate and remarkability resisted Daora's whirlwind, even pushing back against it. Then, a steam fabricated extremity stretched out of the smog and bulleted at the assaulting heart creature.

Daora ceased its offense and scampered from the white hand as it tried to grab it. When it failed to capture it, it switched its target to Kakuzu and darted at him next. He scowled, evading the smoking palm as he skirted between its fingers. Daora rounded back around the stage, launching an air bullet which struck the projection and made it fracture apart. It patched itself back together a moment later and pivoted at Daora in another attempt to trap it. Another limb spawned from exhaust backstage and speeded at Kakuzu. He avoided it too as he skidded underneath it and off the platform, sneering. Another new trick, he should have known better than to think this bastard was a one-trick pony.

…

Meanwhile, the Moku had been too occupied with saving their own lives to pay attention to the literal theatrics happening in the background.

Zetsu hounded after each member, finding delight in their screaming and desperate scrambling to escape her. She had done this for awhile until her ravenous hunger outweighed her entertainment and she started attacking. Those attempting to flee through the entrance were the first to be picked off. She dexterously outsped two men running for the doorway, appearing in front of them as a blur of pink and glowing yellow streaks and pounced before they could react. One man went down instantly, his throat eaten out. The second one tried escaping in the opposite direction but had the teenager leap onto his back and his chest penetrated through by her weaponized vegetation.

Realizing that leaving was impossible, the remaining Moku either hid or resorted to protecting themselves using whatever was available for a weapon, although it did little. Zetsu scrupulously ducked their attacks, eluding them faster than their human eyes could track and ambushing them. In minutes, she had killed three more, each murdered with differing methods of bloodshed.

There were six members left now, including the previously injured Kappei and the brain damaged Shinji. They hid in the hallway leading backstage and the dressing rooms, peeking around the corner and watching mortified as the girl devoured one of their own like he was an oversized steak.

She peered up from her feast, gliding her tongue across her red-painted canines to purge the pieces of flesh wedged between them, and the survivors hastily cowered back behind the lipped wall which separated them from their gruesome deaths. It did little, however, as Zetsu stared at their flickering charka signatures which visibly kindled through the wall. She decided to save them for later pickings as she returned to snacking on one poor dead bastard, gnawing on his blubbery arm and purring in enjoyment of its chewiness.

The doorkeeper stared at the bodyguard who was slumped against the wall and cradling his broken skull after having been lugged to safety with the rest of them.

"We have to kill that insane bitch!" Kappei hissed, spitting out curdled blood from his stabbed cheeks while speaking. "She'll kill us too if we don't!"

Shinji grunted and coughed, blood splashing from his cracked lips. "What a shit day…I ain't…getting paid enough for this." He slurred, head lolling on his shoulders as his yellowed eyes frequently fluttering behind his eyelids.

Realizing Shinji was too far gone, Kappei focused on his other compatriots. "We have to kill her!"

"How?" Yugo, one of the debt-collectors, questioned. "She murdered Kenta! He didn't have a chance against her and he was the only one of us with shinobi training!"

"He failed at a genin level." Goro, Howaito Auto's bookkeeper, deadpanned and Yugo spared the ginger a dirty look for speaking ill of his butchered partner.

"W-We could try the exit again instead." Raizo, the Moku's newest blood, nervously suggested and wringed his fingers around his bruised neck.

"Did you not see what the fuck she did to Shuko and Tokio when they tried that!?" Yasuo, one of the Moku's scouts, sneered. "She'll kill us before we were even within pissing distance of it! Fucking Naozumi and Naoyuki! They're lucky their dead because I would fucking kill them for bringing that bitch and huge bastard here! Now Auto had left us to die too!"

"Yasuo, breathe." Kappei assuaged the other balding man who was progressively turning red during his tirade. "Auto is distracting that girl's father from killing us too. He isn't abandoning us."

"Bullshit! He went white—whiter when he saw her. I'm positive he shat himself! He ain't going to fuck with her so, why should we?"

"Because she'll kill us if we don't!"

"I've got an idea." Yugo muttered, interrupting the heated feud between the two men. He stared at the fading Shinji then diverted his forest-green gaze to Kappei. "You'll have to trust me though. We'll have to take drastic measures if you want rest of us to survive." Kappei didn't trust him, giving his prior staring at Shinji, but he realized he would have to listen if they had any hopes of living like he said and nodded. Everyone else shuffled closer to listen.

"This is what we'll have to do—"

Zetsu resumed her munching, having switched to another corpse in the meantime—a burnt one which had been perfectly charred to her liking. Her dinner was disturbed yet again when someone approached her, making her flinch and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand erect. She growled in her throat, lowering herself with her belly against the ground as a precaution measure and staring at the invasive person.

The mohawked man stumbled towards her, mumbling incoherently and spitting up blood between words. She hissed a warning from him not to near her further but he did not heed it as he resumed shambling in her direction. Once he had stepped too close, she snarled and sprung at him. Instinctively, he defended his face with his arm and she caught his forearm between her jaws. He toppled backwards onto his back causing the teenager to fall with him. With her canines hooked into his arm still, she thrashed her head back and forth like a crocodile in an attempt to tear the limb off. During this progress though, she failed to notice the people impending on her until they were right on top of her and their charka signatures were smothering her senses with their heat and a variety of scents and flavours.

She tried to unlatch her cavities to protect herself, but they had been installed too deep and before she could remove them, something hard was brought down across her back, narrowly missing her skull. She yelped and winced, glancing up to see a gang of men surrounding her, holding pipes and planks. Another man struck her then another, this time nicking her skull and stunning her into submission as she was unable to flee. Each took their turn hitting her, the ambush lasting several minutes until she had collapsed atop Shinji and ceased moving. They paused in their assault, panting and staring at each other then back at the rabid girl, searching for any sign of movement. Another series of minutes passed with nothing and they realized they might have successfully killed her.

"Fffuck you!" Yasuo shouted, throwing his pipe at her—it bouncing off her back with a hollow thud—then promptly flipping her the bird and cackling manically.

"We actually killed her?" Goro mumbled in disbelief. "Yugo's plan actually worked?" Yugo nodded, rather proud of himself for his quick thinking.

"What about Shinji?" Raizo mentioned, the amount of blood seeping across the cement floor troubling him.

Kappei leant down and checked on the fallen man but the prognosis was grim when he was not breathing and no pulse could be read. The girl had succeeded in partially amputating his arm at the elbow and that had been the primary source of the blood soaking into their shoes. During their lengthy and frantic flurry, he must have bled out without anyone realizing. Immediately, Kappei felt guilty for having sacrificed the one person in the small-scale organization he considered a friend. Yugo had been correct, though. It was either them or him and he had already been on the brink of death.

"He's dead." Kappei confirmed.

"He didn't die in vain." Yugo mumbled. "If he hadn't distracted her, we would have never been able to blindside her." Everyone nodded in agreement with Kappei sighing.

"W-What about her? Is she dead?" Raizo asked, pointing at the motionless juvenile. "Someone has to check her too!" No one moved and glancing at each other, waiting for someone else to volunteer to do the task.

Finally, Goro sighed. "Fine. I'll do it!" He grumbled, stepping towards the two presumed dead individuals.

He extended out the metal pipe he had been wielding and used it to nudge and prod the girl. She didn't move, even when he tapped it against her skull, and didn't appear to be breathing either.

"Nah, she's dead as shi—" However, before Goro could declare her deceased, the pipe was grabbed ahold of by her and wrenched forward, causing him to be taken with it and directly into Zetsu's yawning jaws.

She snapped her knife-like teeth onto the side of his neck, severing an artery and causing a high-pressure stream of blood to spurt out. Goro released a muted scream. Everyone else released a mixture of gasps and screams and backed off. All except for Yasuo who dove for his discarded pipe, screaming and swinging it at her. However, Zetsu was ready this time despite being dazed and in significant pain from her earlier beating and at the last possible moment, she yanked forward her prey so the pipe instead struck Goro, caving in his skull and killing him instantly.

She released him and pounced at her assailant, biting down onto his outstretched arm. Yasuo shouted, jerking his arm back to release it but she tugged it back like a puppy with a rope toy, growling included. She won the tug-a-war when the arm popped out of its socket then was torn off from the shoulder, sending her tumbling with the dismembered arm. Yasuo screamed, groping at his empty crater where his arm once was and was spraying blood like a broken water pipe. Zetsu recovered from her spill and spat out the arm, licking her lips before averting her gaze to the distraught man. He was screaming and stumbling about in a blind panic, trying to desperately have his friends help but the other men backpedaled away from him—unsure how to save him.

She decided to end his suffering and jumped at him, landing on his turned back and slamming him facedown into the swelling blood of ocean swamping the flood. Her once pink jacket—now dyed crimson with blood—rustled and her Mayfly melted through the red fabric as it freed itself. The muscled growths were scattered with notches and gashes cleaved into them and the deep lacerations were oozing a transparent fluid like blood. Kappei saw this and realized that whatever those were, she must have cushioned herself with them like a military vest which explained how she survived.

Yasuo groaned, attempting to get up. Instead, he cringed and vomited up a fountain of blood then collapsed again, twitching. Zetsu grumbled in her throat and extracted the flytrap tooth she had plunged through the man's back and into his heart. The digit extended to her face and licked off the blood and gore coating its honed tip while staring at the last three standing.

The man prepared their weapons and braced themselves for the fight of their lives.

**...**

Howaito Auto hadn't lost his steam—no pun intended—as the spectral hands drove after Daora and Kakuzu without intermission.

Daora trotted away from another swipe by the white hand hunting it and jackknifed towards the backstage. The bird-like creature sent another bullet at the miasma to penetrate it but it was too thick and the missile was swallowed up. It squawked unhappily and tried again, pinpointing in a single area in a vain attempt to thin the steam as it laid bullet after bullet into that one spot while dancing past the hand still groping at it. It wasn't successful but by the strained noise inside, it was obviously irking Auto who then shouted something at the heart but it was muffled by the whooshing sound the steam emitted. Daora assumed by the angered tone it was to leave him alone which it naturally didn't do as it inflated to unleash another charged attack when something caught its painted eye.

A subtle silhouette wavered amongst the fog then a sinister glinting as a kunai pierced through and hurled at the heart. Daora got out of its trajectory—bouncing its swollen body like a ball—also with the second one and the third one. There was an angered noise from the steam, obviously Auto's irked snarling and something else was thrown. Instead of it being another knife, though, an empty water bottle was chucked at it. Daora did not avoid it and squawked when it thunked against its mask. It went spiraling into the air and landed with a hollow clonking besides Kakuzu, rolling against his boot. He stopped and stared at the plastic object for a moment until an epiphany struck him.

' _So that's how he generates that steam from his person. It isn't manifested from a jutsu._ ' He thought, remembering the other water bottles Howaito Auto had had clipped to his belt. "Teo!"

The repaired fire element mask reacted to its name and skittered across his back, huddling onto his other shoulder. The second vaporous hand swiped at him again but he did not skirt it as Teo responded, poking its smiling face from beneath its host's collar and spewing fireball at it. The flame engulfed the fist and, behaving like a spark with gasoline, devoured the rest of the arm and setting the limb alight until it exploded seconds later. Kakuzu smirked, his theory confirmed.

Teo lurched out of Kakuzu's coat and disturbingly convulsed on the stage until it managed to assemble itself into its bi-pedaled physical form then trotted off towards Daora to save its mask sibling. It belched another blaze at the remaining hand and like the other, it caught on fire then erupted into an explosion. Daora chirped at Teo as a thank you for helping it and Teo yipped back. Kakuzu climbed back onto the platform and whistled at Teo then pointed at the gloom. The lion-faced mask understood and inhaled before breathing an inferno at the surging steam stonewalling the backstage.

Instantly, the red-hot fire ingested the steam and converted it into a massive bonfire. Howaito Auto screamed out as he was ignited also, his sweat glands acting like microscopic burners on a gas stove. He deactivated his Kekkei Genkai and the kindling steam evaporated into a shower of embers. However, Auto remained on fire and a human-shaped pyre fled out from the backstage. It collapsed onto the stage and he desperately rolled across the ground to put himself out. After flailing and rolling around for awhile, it worked and he laid out on the floor, his clothes and hair smouldering. His expensive white suit was a charred brown.

Kakuzu leant over him, cringing behind his bandana from the gut-wrenching scent of burning flesh and hair. "I'm finished playing with you. Your little Kekkei Genkai won't work on me again. It took me a minute, but now I realize all you are is a glorified water heater." Howaito Auto scowled and attempted to stand but Kakuzu stomped his boot onto his back. "None of that. You're going to lay down and die like the pathetic creature you've shown yourself to be. I've no respect for a man which abandons his own to die. Now die."

Threads sprouted from his wrist and tightly knitted themselves together until creating a pointed tip. Kakuzu kept Howaito Auto pinned against the ground and aligned the mock sword over his back to the location his heart would be. Once pinpointing it, he cocked his arm back to stab him but he was disrupted by something—or rather someone.

"Boss!"

Kakuzu scowled at the interruption and Howaito Auto lifted his head up, seeing Kappei running towards them, his clothing soaked in blood and an expression purified after having watched everyone else left being torn into ribbons. He desperately scrambled onto the stage, too afraid of what was chasing him then the six-and-half-foot man leering at him as he ran towards him. Zetsu leapt up also, snarling and hissing as she inelegantly clambered after. Kakuzu begrudgingly released Auto as he stepped out of the way to avoid being caught by her again. Auto didn't attempt to help his peon and instead dragged himself to the backstage.

Kappei screamed and ran across the set with a screeching Zetsu hot on his heels. He had made it within inches of the other side when the girl pounced and landed on his back, slamming him into the wooden broads. She clamped her canines onto his neck, thrashing his head back and forth and Kappei screamed and screamed until he was silenced seconds later her when her jaws shattered his vertebrate, internally decapitating him. She released her bite and turned around to stare at her next victim, growling with blood frothing from her lips.

Kakuzu caught her caustic gaze and sighed. "God damni—" He couldn't finish his muttered swear because was Zetsu sprinting at him.

He sidestepped her but she was fast on her feet—or rather hands and feet—and she caught herself with one hand, using it to spin herself back around for another attack. Teo and Daora stepped in to assist and spun their threaded limbs around her, webbing them between them and ensnaring her. Zetsu screeched and chewed at the fibers to break through them. They were too thick though and in mass so she resorted to shrieking and lashing out in the makeshift net while Daora and Teo struggled to keep her contained. Kakuzu sighed in relief and searched around, remembering their remaining guest.

Auto had managed to painfully crawl backstage. He heaved himself to his feet using a chair, wincing as his motions provoked his searing skin. He looked towards the stage, seeing Kappei who now laid dead on it, and that meant everyone else must be dead. That or had managed to escape but that was impossible. No one could escape the Mayfly—he had seen it with his own eyes. He had hardly survived it himself. The Moku was dead and he had no obligation to them to stay and fight. Especially not against a brat wielding the Mayfly. He had to escape—he would escape and start the Moku over again. A new, better Moku.

He unbuckled another water bottle from his belt and popped the cap open so to replenish his fluids for his Steam Release. But, within inches of his lips, the bottle was smacked out of his hand and he flinched as he noticed Kakuzu hunched over him, bloodshot eyes staring daggers at him. Kakuzu scowled and punched Auto in his throat, making the albino gag and collapse to his knees as he struggled to breathe from the strike. While on the ground, Kakuzu stole the chance to yank off Auto's belt with the rest of his water supply and toss it away so he could not recharge his Kekkei Genkai. He then plucked the heaving man up by his creased collar and walked him back onto the stage.

Teo and Daora came to attention when their owner whistled but it didn't translate as an order to them. Kakuzu whistled again until he caught the attention of his intended audience as Zetsu paused in her struggling, staring at him and panting with her tongue out like a mutt. He held up Howaito Auto and shook him like a treat bag to a pet.

"Is this you would like, girl?" He inquired in a pretend, euthanistic tone, shaking him more and Zetsu made an inhaled snorting noise as her nose twitched which he took as a yes.

"No! Please no!" Howaito Auto pleaded, grabbing at Kakuzu's hand to release him but was met with sharp threading poking at his hands to ward them off.

Kakuzu whistled again and this time it was a command which Daora and Teo heeded as they released Zetsu and stepped back out of her range. The minor flopped to the floor and wriggled around until getting onto her hands and feet. Kakuzu released Auto and backed up so he wasn't caught in the crossfire. Once free, Auto turned and ran for his life. A huge mistake.

Zetsu shrieked and bolted after him, ignoring Kakuzu in favour of her more active prey. Auto kept running and franticly glanced behind him at the girl barreling towards him. As he did, he failed to notice Kappei's corpse in his pathway and tripped over it, hitting the platform hard enough to daze himself. He groaned and rolled himself over onto his back. He felt something heavy atop him and opened his eyes to see Zetsu leaning over him, growling with red-tinted drool dripping from her lips onto his pale face.

"Please no! Please!" Howaito Auto shouted, safeguarding his face with his hands. "Not again!"

Zetsu shrilled and attacked him, viciously biting at his hands and nipping off fingers until there was little to nothing left of them and she reached her real target. Her jaws latched themselves onto his face, her canines perfectly aligning with the old, jagged scarring lined across his forehead and jawline.

Kakuzu passively listened to Howaito Auto's bloodcurling screaming as Zetsu gormandized his face. It took several minutes until he finally went quiet and stopping fighting. Zetsu leant up, chewing on a flap of flesh which once the man's cheek. She swallowed it and looked at Kakuzu who sighed.

"No." He warned her. It was talking to a brick wall as she ignored him and immediately ambled towards him, hissing and baring her fangs. Kakuzu wasn't going to entertain her though and when she pounced at him, she was met with his steel-toed boot being kicked into her gut.

She squealed, blood and bile splashing from her lips, as the air was stolen from her lungs and she summersaulted away from the force of the kick, landing feet away with a heavy thud. She whimpered and squirmed on the floorboards as she tried to recover but Kakuzu wasn't about to have that. He ejected his hand from his wrist and it latched onto her neck, pinching her pressure points. Zetsu hissed, clawing at the appendage but she didn't have enough strength presently to pry it off and after several tense seconds, her eyes went white and her head lolled against her shoulder.

The elder recanted his hand and cautiously approached the girl, not trusting she was actually unconscious and was just playing possum like he remembered the Mayfly Man doing. However, after much nudging with his foot and even stepping on her fingers which he knew she could not ignore, he confirmed it had been enough to render her out. He released the sigh he had been withholding and looked around, observing the carnage the teenager had left in her wake.

The Moku was dead, its men slaughtered in a variety of ways as amputated limbs laid scattered around and the theater's wooden paneling painted red with blood and gore. Some were partially eaten while others just maimed beyond recognition. Like Howaito Auto, who laid dead atop his lackey, his face having been eaten off and was unrecognizable.

Kakuzu sighed again, scratching at his head as he stared at Zetsu, the girl's obnoxiously pink outfit had been darkened with blood and her pale face with crusted with dried blood and pieces of human flesh. "I told Sir Leader you'd be nothing but a menace." He snorted. "And I was right."

He hunched over, yanking her up by the hood of her sweatshirt and threw her onto his shoulder. He snapped his fingers and Daora and Teo obediently returned to their nest in his back.

With one last look around, Kakuzu left the condemned theater.

…

"T-T-Thank you so much! You've saved Oashisu f-from Howaito Auto and the Moku!" Koji babbled on while he laid each individual bill in Kakuzu's waiting hand so he didn't think he was trying to cheat him.

"Whatever." Kakuzu grunted, internally cringing as he counted out his payment and realized he had gone through that hell for nothing more than pocket change. He would have to speak to Sir Leader about reconsidering the Akatsuki's rate. It might help them dominate the market but this was ridiculous.

"I-I'll speak to the mayor about the theater. I-Is it that bad?"

"Just suggest to him to employ cleaners with strong stomachs." Kakuzu glanced at Zetsu who was quietly seated on the couch, dressed in clean clothing—in another pink outfit that made Kakuzu want to burn her and that hideous clothing—and cradling an ice pack against her head with another one to her face while Kari and Romi fussed over her.

Thankfully, Oashisu had a clinic but Kakuzu had to wait until the next morning for it to open. Zetsu had been checked out and she had been significantly beaten up with a severe concussion/fractured skull, broken nose and implied fractured vertebrae and ribs. It testified to the Mayfly's ability to heighten its host's pain tolerance. The doctor pleaded him to stay and have her x-rayed but wasn't going to waste any more money or time on the girl. So, instead he just gave her an ice pack for the pain and left to receive his payment.

Once Koji coughed up the last bill, Kakuzu pocketed the cash and turned towards Zetsu, snapped his fingers at her. "Come, girl. We're leaving."

Zetsu listened as she stiffly stood up, wavering on her feet as she staggered towards him. She slouched against his leg, using him to keep herself upright and he excused it this once as he patted her washed cheek.

"T-Thank you again!" Koji called after them from the doorway of his house and waved as they walked down the main road towards the settlement gates to leave.

Kakuzu didn't grace him with a "you're welcome".

…

They had left Oashisu and were walking back towards the Riverlands.

Kakuzu had taken pity on Zetsu as he carried her backpack and dictionary and kept his pace casual so the girl could keep up with him as she weakly wobbled behind him. It had been a quiet walk for an hour when an obnoxious noise sprung up in the background. He ignored at first but when it persisted for minutes, he finally glanced over his shoulder to find the source. Zetsu was crying.

Her head bowed, tears and blood-tinted snot dripping from her bruised face while her shoulders trembled. She hadn't noticed Kakuzu stopped until she walked into his leg. She stumbled back and stared up at him, sniffling and hiccupping.

"What? What's wrong now?" He demanded, irritated by her sniveling. It seemed like her two extremes were now either berserk or crying. There was no in between with her.

Zetsu wiped her sleeve across her wet eyes and sniffed. "H-Hurt."

"You're hurt? Too bad. I gave you an ice pack—two of them. You're aren't getting anything else to ease the pain until we return to the Land of Rivers. Then Konan can take you to the hospital."

"N-No!" Zetsu said, an edge to her voice which made Kakuzu sneer. She better not be using that tone with him or he would teach her quick about speaking to him like that. He'd excuse it this once as being because she was crying. "Hurt. Do hurt?"

It took him a moment to decipher her primitive language. "Did you hurt?" Zetsu nodded.

"Hurt." She said again, touching her lips. She couldn't remember anything which had happened between being beaten unconscious by the two men who had kidnapped her and waking up in a clinic with a doctor shining a bright light in her eyes. There was blips though—screaming echoing throughout the depths of her head and the coppery taste of blood tingling her taste buds. "Hurt?"

"Yes. You hurt a lot of people. You _killed_ a lot of people." Kakuzu said, deciding not to sugarcoat it for her. Afterall, this wouldn't be the last time she would do something like this, he knew that to be true.

"Killed?" Zetsu parroted, never having heard that word.

"Yes, killed. You killed them. You snuffed out their lives so they aren't alive anymore." She cringed. Not alive? Killed meant not alive? She made people not alive? She _killed_ them? "You tore them apart and ate them alive. Killed them all like the little monster you are."

She gasped, recognizing that word. "Not monster!" She adamantly denied but Kakuzu wasn't having it from her.

"Yes you are!" He suddenly screamed in her face, startling the girl onto her backside as she stared at him stunned with leaking, sauced eyes. "You're nothing but a little monstrosity! It's coded in your bloodline so don't give me that bullshit you aren't an abomination against nature! What? You thought that eating humans was natural? Ha! I was just being a kind person by introducing you to that diet in the beginning so it wouldn't be such a surprise to you when you went balletic and cannibalized someone for the first time. And you went down the route I knew you would. Now stop with your pathetic crying over it because this won't be the last time you'll kill a person because that fucking Kekkei Genkai of yours! Now stand!"

He shrugged off her ugly pink backpack and threw it into her arms before turning and leaving without her. He didn't stop, even when he heard Zetsu's infant-este wailing behind him.

…

Konan was pacing around the living room, anxiously waiting for Kakuzu and Zetsu to return. Their mission shouldn't have been more than a single day yet it had been two and she was worried sick—but not for Kakuzu.

It had been hours since she started waiting near the opened front door after Pein kicked her out of his office when her pacing distracted him from his paperwork, but finally, Kakuzu entered. However, it was just him and Konan's maternal instinct kicked in.

"Where is Zetsu!?" She interrogated him after intercepting him on the way to his bedroom. Kakuzu sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, already too fed up to deal with her nagging also.

"She's right behind me. Now out of the way, woman!" He roughly shouldered her away, almost managing to knock her over. "Also, I suggest you take her to the hospital for the injuries she sustained." With that, he disappeared inside his room and slammed the door behind him, threatening to break it again after just repairing it. Konan scowled at him before realizing what he had said and gasped.

She ran towards the door, prepared to search for Zetsu. If she was wounded, she could have collapsed along the way back and she didn't expect Kakuzu to have helped her. He hadn't even bothered to protect her by the sound of it!

Thankfully, she didn't have to when she was saw Zetsu limping through the treeline, head bent downwards and dragging her pink backpack through the dirt.

"Zetsu!" Konan yelled and raced to the teenager. "Oh, Zetsu. Are you alright, sweetheart?" She didn't hug her, afraid of her what injuries she had or their locations so she resorted to cradling the girl's face instead. Although, she regretted that when lifting it up and witnessing the bruising blotted across her cheeks and surrounding her nose. What had happened on this mission?

To her shock, Zetsu shied from her affection as she withdrew her face from her hands and began shuffling around her towards the cabin. Konan stared at her, flabbergasted.

"Zetsu, what ar—?"

"Monster." Zetsu replied quietly before she could finish her question, not pausing in her step. It only further confused the woman.

"Monster?"

Zetsu pointed at herself, keeping her back to the other female. "Monster." She repeated then vanished inside—leaving Konan outside, lost and disturbed by that single word.

Monster.


	21. Arc 2: Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RED DAWN ARC:—the Akatsuki recruits a new member who Zetsu finds herself at odds with as the two butt heads in a sibling-este rivalry. Meanwhile, the Akatsuki finishes their final transition and Sir Leader reveals the Akatsuki's ultimate goal.
> 
> Sunagakure petitions the Akatsuki again for assistance about their missing Kazekage and his disciple. However, it not about finding them but rather their killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Welcome to the first chapter of the new Red Dawn arc. We'll be taking a break from the violence last chapter, but it won't last long. This chapter shall be part one of a custom plotline which diverges from the canon. So please, do not criticize me on changing the canon. This story shall be a mixture of canon and non-canon plotlines along with customizing the characters personalities but not subtracting from them. 
> 
> Warning(s): Language (Med), Genderbend (Low), OC, Out of Character/Customized Characterization

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 20**

"I'm appreciative you're here, Kakuzu." Sir Leader started, stacking together the paperwork which pertained to the Akatsuki's latest contracts.

"Hmph. You said it was important, afterall." Kakuzu answered, adjusting himself in the mediocre, steel chair positioned in front of Sir Leader's desk which gave a rusty squeal.

"Yes, I did." As Kakuzu ordered himself, Sir Leader spied for Zetsu but did not see her present also. "Where is Zetsu? Has she recovered yet from the incident you told me about during your first mission together?" Apparently, she had been rather beaten during it and had to have two weeks to recover from her injuries.

Kakuzu snorted. He wouldn't say "told", so much as screamed at his superior the girl had gone ballistic and murdered everyone, including their target, and she was a menace to the Akatsuki and the human race. To which Sir Leader just nodded and said, "she's made incredible progress.", before asking him if he would "kindly" leave his office. Yes, that was how he remembered that conversation going.

"She's fine." Kakuzu answered, shrugging. "I didn't want to waste my time with trying to wrestle her out of her room." Sir Leader accepted the blatantly truthful answer and decided not to interrogate him further regarding it.

According to Konan, the mission had disturbed Zetsu enough that the teenager wouldn't even speak to her about it and had been hiding in her bedroom since. Pein had decided ignorance was bliss and keeping it secret that it because the girl had murdered and cannibalized at least a dozen men was for Konan's own good since she loved the child and thought her perfectly innocent. He would accept the consequences once she learned the truth herself.

"Moving on—Sunagakure has reached out to the Akatsuki again and—"

"What for? Their Kazekage?" Kakuzu interrupted. "The Third Kazekage is dead. If he isn't dead then he's deserted Sunagakure. Because of the Second and Third Wars, Sunagakure's resources and shinobi were being stretched thin and they wouldn't have survived through to the end. The Third likely saw the writing on the wall and bailed so he could not be executed once Sunagakure was invaded and overthrown."

"Are you finished?" Sir Leader asked once Kakuzu concluded his little tirade. Obviously, the brunet had a basis against Sunagakure and its government—or maybe against authority in general. Kakuzu snorted, crossing his arms, and the ginger took that as permission to resume what he was saying. "As I was trying to say—Sunagakure has reached out to the Akatsuki again. It is not about finding the Kazekage though—it about hunting down his suspected murderer."

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow. "They've confirmed he has been assassinated and know who has done it?"

"Read for yourself." Sir Leader handed Kakuzu a scroll which had been delivered to Amegakure by vulture days ago. He accepted it and unrolled it. It was on old parch paper, decorated with a golden border and written in golden ink. Fancy.

_To Whom It May Concern in the Akatsuki:_

_I write this letter to request your services in the apprehension of the person responsible for the assassination of the Third Kazekage and murder of his subordinate, Sasori—monikered Akasuna-no-Sasori. Included a signed letter of permission to enter Sunagakure and the Kazekage's Office. Payment shall be a promised five million (5,000,000) ryō._

_Please consider this newest request and thank you in advance for your assistance._

_Signed, Fourth Kazekage—Rasa_

Five million ryō for arresting one bastard!? That would be more than enough to fund whatever little project Sir Leader and Konan had in the background. When had Sunagakure acquired such a gold mine?

"We'd be insane not to accept." Kakuzu said, his tune having changed with the inviting payday. "Was there anything else? Like details on the mission itself?"

"None. You should leave as soon as possible. We declined Sunagakure's last request so their patience with us might be limited and we do not want to lose this tremendous opportunity to another organization."

"Don't have to say that twice." Kakuzu replied, standing up and his back cracked painfully. He gathered up the required paperwork for the mission and started towards the stairwell to leave.

"Ah yes. Please share the assignment details with Zetsu before you both leave so she is prepared. Do not withhold information from her. She has to start learning about mission protocols for when she starts embarking on them by herself." Sir Leader included before he left.

Kakuzu paused mid-step. " _Us?"_

"Yes, _you both._ "

Kakuzu spun back around on his heel and frowned which Sir Leader could have mistaken with pouting. " _No_. I refuse to have that brat on more missions with me! She's a menace and unpredictable! She'll kill our target again, or attempt to kill me, or kill civilians!"

"Yes, I'll agree that Zetsu is dangerous given the Mayfly, but according to your own testimony—she had not lost herself until being thoroughly beaten and tortured. So, if you not permit her to reach that breaking point again, she should be perfectly safe to accompany you."

Kakuzu walked back, resting his hands on the desk and leant over it to be eyelevel with Sir Leader who did not flinch. "Are you implicating that her breakdown was my doing?" He questioned lowly.

"Well, you did leave her by herself which resulted in her kidnapping." Sir Leader casually answered, not rattled by the behemoth's intimidation tactics as he stared back, his Rinnegan dilating as a silent threat itself. Kakuzu scowled, standing straight before turning to leave again.

"Oh, Kakuzu." Sir Leader spoke up again and Kakuzu sighed, but stopped in the doorway to listen and glowered over his shoulder at his superior, resisting the urge to punch him in his pierced face. "Zetsu is your partner now until she is adequately trained to function by herself. Until then, you are her guardian and teacher as per the conditions you signed in agreement to. One of which was not to do harm or permit harm to her. So, I suggest if you do not want her to have another episode, you start being more diligent to her wellbeing. If not, I will terminate your relationship with the Akatsuki." Sir Leader smiled, a rare and creepy gesture. "I thought I'd just remind you of that. You may leave now."

Kakuzu sneered at the friendly reminder but said nothing as he stomped up the stairwell with the rotting, wooden steps groaning and threatening to snap underneath his boot. Upstairs, there was a loud crashing with enough strength to rattle the entire cabin's foundation and cause dust to cascade from the beams overhead in the basement.

Sir Leader smirked and returned to his paperwork. "He took that well."

…

After decorating a nearby wall with a new hole, Kakuzu marched across the hallway to Zetsu's bedroom door and punched his fist against it several times. "Girl! Open up!" There was no response inside after several seconds. He fiddled with the doorknob, finding it locked and sneered. "Girl! If you don't open this door in three seconds, I'll kick it down! Three…two…"

He had poised his lips and tongue in preparation of saying 'one', when the door was suddenly yanked open. Zetsu stood there, appearing startled and her sleeping wear rumpled. She must have been asleep.

"Get dressed and pack, girl. We're leaving on another mission." He told her, jabbing a finger at her. He then turned to walk to his own room to pack, when Zetsu's reply made him stop.

"No."

Kakuzu sighed, messaging his temples. Why was everyone so insistent on fucking with him today? "No?" He asked, turning back towards the teenager and she cowered behind her door, peeking around it.

"No." She quietly reaffirmed, avoiding eye contact.

"Why 'no'? Give me a great fucking reason for 'no', girl."

"No. No hurt! Hurt no peoples."

"You don't want to go because you do not want to hurt anyone else?" He asked, internally battering himself for having developed the ability to decipher her baby gibberish so well now.

She nodded hesitantly. "Monster."

Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before walking back towards her and Zetsu hid behind the door as he approached and attempted to shut it, but he caught it would his hand. She groveled behind it, shutting her eyes and shielding her head in preparation of being struck.

"Listen here, girl." He said instead, and she apprehensively glanced up at him. "What happened last mission was just a sampling of the murdering you'll do while in the Akatsuki. You're a member now and you have a license to kill. There's no avoiding it by simply saying 'no'. Hell, if I hadn't stolen you from Kusagakure, you would've have been subjected to the same treatment. You're a little monster engineered to kill and maim, and you'll never be anything else than that. Get over it." His impromptu speech had meant to be a hard dose of reality, not a little white lie to soothe her, and by how Zetsu's naturally large eyes glistened and her bottom lip trembled, it had worked.

"Now, shut up and ready up. If you are not ready once I done, you will be punished. Understood?" Zetsu didn't respond as she sniffled and wiped her leaking eyes. " _Understood?_ " Kakuzu reiterated in a harsher tone, clenching his hand into a threatening fist.

She hiccupped but nodded, face buried in her scarred arms. "U-U-Understood."

"Understood—?"

"U-Understood, s-s-sir." Satisfied, Kakuzu left to his room, ignoring Zetsu's sniveling resonating from her room.

It didn't take Kakuzu much time to prepare himself, considering he never brought a change of clothes or supplies since he was confident in his own abilities to finish missions quickly, and impatiently waited for Zetsu to finish also. It took several minutes more, but she finally left her room, red-faced and puffy-eyed. However, Kakuzu immediately sent her back to change, cringing when she exited in another hot pink outfit. It wasted a few more precious minutes, but he was satisfied when she left again in more suitable, non-pink clothing. He needed a break from that fucking colour. He supplied her a flick to the forehead for taking so long, before herding her out the door to leave.

…

Entering the Wastelands had been the easy part as it had taken them two hours, maybe three hours to cross the border between it and the Riverlands. However, getting to Sunagakure was a challenge in itself. Due to the Third War, Sunagakure had thought the best method of security for protecting its borders from potential invaders was by setting up checkpoints—every several miles.

The first checkpoint seen was a few miles inland and Kakuzu had initially mistaken it as two men who had chosen a poor place to vacation. Instead, it had been a ramshackle stand with two umbrellas to shield against the glaring sun and two overheated shinobi standing under them, waiting for any suspicious passerbyers like them. Immediately, the two Sunagakure shinobis stopped them and started interrogated Kakuzu about his identity and reason for being in the Wastelands. They even shouted at Zetsu for her identification, frightening the still upset girl into tears again as she skulked behind Kakuzu's tall legs.

Kakuzu gave them the Kazekage's letter to satisfy their nagging questions, but it only triggered them into having a heated debate over the authenticity of the golden-inked note. There was even the suggestion of one them leaving to Sunagakure to verify it, since there was no reception in the middle of nowhere to enable them to call it in. Thankfully, that was quickly dismissed since both men were obligated to stay to their post regardless the circumstances—much to Kakuzu's relief since he wasn't going to wait around for that. So instead, they begrudgingly permitted them past, promising them that since they had been approved by them, they shouldn't be stopped again by another one of the checkpoints. That had been a blatant lie.

Again, they were stopped and again, the two Sunagakure shinobi picketed at the second checkpoint bickered if the letter was real when presented. Again, the decision was made they could not call it in or leave and permitted Kakuzu and Zetsu's passing, promising they'd pass unhindered to Sunagakure. Again, they were stopped at the third checkpoint and again, at the fourth and—if Kakuzu was intervened one more time, he would lose this hair-thin temper. He couldn't comprehend these checkpoints if anyone could pass since the security did not have the technology nor permission to confirm personal information. Thankfully, it wasn't until Sunagakure itself were they stopped again by the perimeter patrol.

As they shuffled through the hot sand towards the passageway of Sunagakure, three shinobi with their faces obscured by turban-like headgear cautiously approached them from their lingering positions in front of the entrance, one hand held up to order the bizarre party to halt while the other rested on the hilt of their scimitars. Kakuzu stopped and yanked Zetsu back by her backpack when she kept walking forward, oblivious to her surroundings.

"Halt." One of them said, lowering his arm but not removing his hand from the curved sword attached to his hip. "What is your business in Sunagakure?"

"The Kazekage summoned us." Kakuzu answered, reaching into his slacks pocket to withdraw the letter once again. Instinctively, the three other men drew their swords, pointing them at him and making Zetsu cower. Realizing this, Kakuzu up his free hand to communicate submission while he slowly extracted the note. Upon seeing that it was a letter and not a weapon, the sentinels relaxed their own weapons but kept their guard.

Kakuzu didn't want to make another wrong move which might result in being stabbed and snapped his fingers causing Zetsu to curiously lift her head upwards at him as she vaguely recognized the unspoken command. He handed her the message and ushered her towards the other shinobi to deliver it since being approached by a child was less intimidating than a six-and-a-half tall dark-skinned man.

Zetsu hesitated, digging her heels into the sand and Kakuzu had to borderline heave her at them. She timidly stepped forward, holding out the letter in a shaking, outstretched hand and one of the shinobi graciously accepted it. Once taken, Zetsu scurried back to Kakuzu and returned to her hiding spot behind him. The elder snorted, but affectionately patted her head.

The recipient racked back the fabric shielding his face to read the letter with his two associates leaning over his shoulders to do so also. Upon seeing it, the two others immediately erupted into discussion over its legitimacy like everyone else had. Kakuzu sighed, preparing himself for the same song and dance. However, he was pleasantly surprised.

"We'll have the Kazekage verify it," The letter holder proclaimed instead, folding it back up and handing it off to one of his bickering partners.

"How long will that take?" Kakuzu impatiently inquired.

"It shouldn't be long at all."

Which meant it could take all day, but he had no choice in the manner since it was either wait patiently, or leave behind this golden opportunity—the decision was obvious. Kakuzu agreed to wait, leading himself and Zetsu into the refreshing shade of the surrounding cliffs to do so. The new letter carrier climbed the sheer cliff face, ascending it like as assassin and disappearing over it.

The courier returned approximately an hour later, which felt like forever for Kakuzu although it had been a reasonable time. He walked it to his superior, muttering something while handing back the letter which Kakuzu was too far to catch and could not read his lips, but the way the man was nodding, he assumed the news good. His suspensions were confirmed when the presumed patrol leader approached him and handed him the golden-inked note back.

"The Kazekage has recognized this letter of permission and has been waiting for your arrival. You'll be escorted to the Kazekage's Office."

"Thank you." Kakuzu said.

The other two shinobi stepped forward to shepherd them to the Kazekage's Office and Kakuzu whistled at Zetsu who had occupied herself with making sand castles—or sand lumps, rather. She stood up, brushing the dusty sand of her clothing and backpack. She waved goodbye to the scorpion she had made friends with—the same scorpion Kakuzu had to jerk her away from when she attempted to pet it—and joined his side. They followed their chauffeurs into Sunagakure.

…

Sunagakure was nothing as Kakuzu remembered. During the First World War, it had been a mudball, literal hole in the wall township in the middle of nowhere with huts built out of mud and rock. Now, it had quadrupled in size and population as people with peculiar accents and dressed too heavily for a desert walked its paved roads and its sandstone structures had been built claustrophobicly close together.

Their entourage lead them through a bazaar that was cluttered with merchants every square inch available, a few with stands while the rest were seated on blankets with their merchandise laid out around them. They shouted and beckoned at them as they walked pass and Kakuzu had to keep stopping and yanking Zetsu away when she kept straying towards a vendor ushering her over with shiny items. It made him understand now how she had been so easy to kidnap.

The Kazekage's Office was in the center of Sunagakure, positioned atop the walls which separated the village into districts. It was a spherical building with round, glassless windows and the kanji for "wind" on the building—not the little mud house Kakuzu remembered it being. Once there, the two shinobi guiding them informed Kakuzu that the Kazekage's assistant would be awaiting them inside then bidded them goodbye and abruptly left. Kakuzu grabbed Zetsu and walked them inside where they were immediately intercepted by an intimidating, bald man in the entrance who Kakuzu assumed to be the Kazekage's assistant.

"You are Akatsuki?" He asked. His lips were permanently locked back in a sneer by a scar which ran from the corner of his lips and up through his left eye.

"Yes." Kakuzu answered automatically. "Akatsuki" might as well be his moniker, by now.

The other man's white orbs pinpointed themselves onto Zetsu and his lips cocked back into a genuine smile at her. Despite his friendliness towards her, she backpedaled behind Kakuzu yet again, frightened by his appearance. He didn't take offense from it though. Instead, he nodded and turned around, gesturing with his sleeved arm for them to follow as he walked through the lobby towards a stairwell which presumably led to the Kazekage's Office. Kakuzu pursued, inelegantly shambling after with Zetsu who had attached herself to his leg.

After three flights of stairs, they arrived before a grand set of double doors painted green with two armoured guardians posted outside them. Upon seeing them, they sidestepped from the doors, each taking a knob and throwing open the doors to grant them entrance, bowing respectively. The Kazekage's assistant signaled at Kakuzu and Zetsu to wait before entering the office himself first.

"Lord Kazekage," He spoke, kneeling and bowing his head respectively. "The Akatsuki have arrived."

"Thank you, Geil."

Geil stood, glancing at Kakuzu and Zetsu then ushered them inside then left to take position beside the Kazekage.

Kakuzu stepped inside, Zetsu still clinging to his leg, but instantly paused upon witnessing the Sunagakure's Fourth Kazekage—a rather youthful man with auburn hair and serious case of "resting bitch face"—as he heard it called. He was—He was— _a kid_. Perhaps not a child—but he couldn't be older than his teenaged years. Not a person of age and experience. First Kirigakure and now Sunagakure was being a governed by a child. This world was going to Hell in a handbasket.

"Welcome, Akatsuki," The Kazekage greeted politely, folding his hands and nodding at the two chairs positioned in front of his desk. "Please, take a seat." Kakuzu accepted, kicking Zetsu off as he took one of the chairs while Zetsu huddled herself in the other.

Geil whispered something to the Kazekage, who shooed him off in answer, and the scarred man walked towards the doors, shutting them behind him. Kakuzu felt as though he had been imprisoned again, being shut in this borderline claustrophobic office with a warden and armed guards posted outside. Except in a jail cell with puke-green carpeting.

"I hadn't expected the Akatsuki's answer," The Kazekage said once his subordinate was gone. He stared at Zetsu for a moment, face writhing into a mixture of a grimace and sneer like he had spied an insect on the wall. Zetsu smacked her lips and wagged her tongue like she has tasted something vile while she glanced around. "After our last request had been ignored."

"We've been unavailable. With the Third War ending, we've been higher demand." Kakuzu answered, deciding not to mention it was that, and the pay Sunagakure offered had been petty pocket change.

"Ah, and those contracts were more valuable than ours for assisting in the search for our Kage." The Kazekage said, condescension bleeding through his tone as his permanently antagonized gaze settled onto Kakuzu instead.

Kakuzu scoffed, crossing his bandaged arms. "All of Sunagakure was looking for the Third. Having the Akatsuki join the search would have made no difference."

"It could have. Perhaps with the Akatsuki's help, we could have found the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori and prevented their tragic deaths." Kakuzu sneered. Was this arrogant little brat attempting guilt trip the Akatsuki?

"You didn't petition us to preach, you petitioned us to arrest the murderer of the Third and this Akasuna-no-Sasori, so get on with it. I didn't waste my time to come out to this hellhole to be railroaded."

The Kazekage snorted, but decided to give up the ghost. "I'll have to indulge you in a little background first, though."

"Please do."

However, before he could start "indulging" them, there was a ruckus outside. There was shouting, a lot of it, and suddenly, the doors flew open. An elderly couple barged into the office, with Geil after them like a lost child and the two guards outside looking dumbfounded. Kakuzu blinked behind his sunglasses from the sudden intrusion while Zetsu hid in her chair from the noise, shielding her ears. The Kazekage sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had known those two would learn about his secret affairs eventually. Too damned nosey, the pair of them.

"Lord Kazekage, please forgive me. I tried to stop them." Geil babbled, hanging his head, ashamed.

"Rasa!" The old hag bellowed, stampeding towards his desk. "You've nerve—hiring interlopers to search for the Third and my dear grandson! Ebizō and I made it explicitly known that we'd be the first to know if progress was made on their disappearances. Yet, I learn that the Third and Sasori have been unceremoniously declared as deceased and an organization known as the 'Akatsuki' had been brought in! What say you?"

"Counsellor Chiyo," The Kazekage, Rasa, attempted sedately, but was on a hair trigger with the grandmother. "It was explicitly known to both you and Counsellor Ebizō that you'd have no involvement in this investigation. The decision to involve a third-party was through my power as Kazekage and did not require approval from the Counsel—"

"I'm not speaking about the Counsel, Rasa—and Ebizō and I have been personal involved in this incident the moment Sasori went missing! I refuse to have a mercenary group searching for our Kage and my grandson!" She proclaimed, waggling a wrinkled finger at him.

"Sunagakure's armies have been too weakened to sacrifice shinobi to search for the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori. We'd be left defenseless if even one more shinobi is dedicated to their retrieval. Relying on outside help was our last resort to finding them."

"You wouldn't have to take such drastic measures if you'd permit Ebizō and I to search for them. Yet, you deprive us of such information! Is it the truth, Rasa—is it the truth that Hiruko has reemerged and suspected of being the culprit behind the disappearances behind the Third and my grandson? That he is murdering civilians? That he is in possession of the Hitokugutsu!?"

"I cannot divulge that information, Counsellor Chiyo—and I refuse to permit you and Counsellor Ebizō to herald the search. With your grandson, Akasuna-no-Sasori gone, the Puppet Brigade is Sunagakure's last battalion and requires your authority. You cannot leave them without guidance."

"Bah," Ebizō shook his head and uttered a disapproving noise with his flapping jowls. "This generation mustn't be so reliant on us older generation."

"So, it is true then!" Chiyo derived through the Kazekage's evasion regarding her questions. "Bastard! Where is he then? I'll take care of him personally!"

"Counsellor Chiyo, please." The Kazekage sighed, wringing his knuckles against his forehead as the last of his patience tinkled away like sand in an hourglass.

"Don't think I can? Ha! I've known that boy since he was in nappies! Taught him everything he knows about puppetry, I did!" Chiyo spun around, facing Ebizō to have him corroborate her claims. However, she paused when noticing Kakuzu, who had been silently seated and listening, leg resting on his knee and chin propped in his palm. "Who're you?"

"I'd be the interloper you spoke of." Kakuzu confirmed, straightening in his chair and fixing his bandana.

"You're Akatsuki?"

"Yes." Chiyo grimaced at him.

"Well, you can leave because your services are not required, boy." She said, pointing towards the door. Kakuzu snorted, but didn't walk like told. He was amused she thought him younger than her. He took it as a compliment.

"No, you can leave." The Kazekage declared, patience having finally gone as he got to his feet and pointed at the door himself. "Counsellor Chiyo, Counsellor Ebizō, I appreciate your dedication to Sunagakure—but your services are not required nor wanted for this incident. If your services are ever required, you'll be contacted immediately. Now please leave. Geil!"

Geil apprehensively stepped forward to gently herd the two elders out. Ebizō cooperated, leaving while Chiyo stayed back. "Sister, please. Let us leave. It is obvious our charity is not wanted here." Instead, Chiyo decided to address Rasa first.

"You've shown 'appreciation' for our 'dedication' quite well, Rasa. Involving strangers in the affairs of Sunagakure! Hmph! Sunagakure will see nothing but ruin with such an attitude! I'll find Sasori myself, without your help or this Akatsuki boy's either." With that, she marched out of the room with her nose pointed so far towards the sky that Kakuzu was surprised she didn't break in against the door frame. Once gone, Geil shut the doors behind them and sighed, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his reflective head. The Kazekage mirrored his assistant's sigh as he fell back into his chair, massaging his pounding temples.

After a moment, Kakuzu cleared his throat to politely remind him that he was still present. "So, then. As you were saying?"

The Kazekage delivered him a narrowed stare which could be misinterpreted as a glower—or that was how he always looked at people. Then, he leant over and rustled around behind his desk. He withdrew a rather thick folder from a drawer and dumped it onto his desk which emitted a heavy thud. He nudged it towards Kakuzu who picked it and opened it, glancing over the first page which was a personal record with the inclusion of a profile picture. It was hideous tanned man with a disfiguring hunched back. His dark hair was braided into thin corn rolls across his bald head and his jaw locked so hard into a snarl that his teeth were seconds from shattering. His searing gaze could be felt through the photograph. "Your target is Hiruko. He was the Third's assistant."

"The Third's assistant?" Kakuzu parroted, picking up the personal record and scanning his eyes over it. Zetsu peeked out from her fetal position, making the elder flinch after having forgotten she was present due to her camouflaging with the hideous green upholstery of the chair she was seated in.

"Yes. Might I indulge you in that background information I mentioned before? It should give clarity to this entire complicated and bewildering series of events."

"Hmph. I think I've got the jist of it from that kind old lady." Kakuzu answered sarcastically, shaded gaze locked on the page as he read through the personal information of this man, Hiruko. So, he didn't notice the leering aimed his direction but he sure as hell felt it as it bored into his skull. Zetsu inched over in her chair to see also but she couldn't read a lick of it, so she examined the picture of the ugly man instead. It reminded her of Sir.

"It all started approximately six months ago. During then, I functioned as treasurer so everything which transpired I either heard through the Kazekage himself or admittedly, eavesdropped on conversations," The Kazekage began regardless, resting his elbows on his desk with his hands folded beneath his chin. "Anyway—it began with the theft of the Hitokugutsu. There were only three people which knew of the whereabouts of the Hitokugutsu—the Third, Akasuna-no-Sasori and Hiruko. One day, it was discovered missing by Sasori. Accusations flew between Sasori and Hiruko since both were puppeteers and had motive to steal it."

"How do you know this Sasori kid hadn't stolen it?" Kakuzu immediately asked with a crude snorting, flipping to the next page.

The Kazekage echoed his snorting with Geil echoing him. "Believe you me, we thought so. Everyone thought so. Sasori wasn't the golden child that Counsellor Chiyo would have you believe him to be. He was bloodthirsty and sociopathic—an incarnation of evil on the battlefield. There is a reason he earned the moniker of "Sasori of the Red Sand". So, it would only be logical to think he had stolen the Hitokugutsu for himself. He had this bizarre fascination with 'perfection' and 'eternity'." Suddenly, the Kazekage smirked and veering his gaze to his assistant. "And that boy babysat your son, Geil."

Geil shrugged nonchalantly. "Kept Baki in line."

Kakuzu arched an eyebrow over the rim of his sunglasses. "The Hitokugutsu, what is it exactly?"

"It is one of Sunagakure's Kinjutsu—the human puppet technique."

"'Human Puppet?'"

"Yes—a jutsu which converts flesh into wood. With it, one could turn a human being into a puppet, or even themselves as we've learned." Kakuzu cringed—and people said that his Kinjutsu was fucked up. He stole hearts; he didn't turn people into abominations against nature.

"Anyway—Sasori and Hiruko were pointing fingers at each other. Then, one night, Sasori confronted Hiruko again. I am not positive what transpired but according to Sasori—Hiruko denied stealing the Hitokugutsu then walked away and vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Yes, that night Hiruko went missing."

"He went missing before the Third and this Sasori went missing?"

"Yes." The Kazekage nodded.

"Again—how do you know that Sasori kid hadn't murdered him?" Kakuzu asked. He was baffled how, through the revelation of this information, that this Hiruko person was accused of murdering the Third and his disciple and not this Sasori. It sounded like this kid was keen of murdering and maiming.

"I'll be getting to that soon. If you are patient." The Kazekage said, visibly irked with the consistent interruptions. Kakuzu—while hating being ordered—obliged him, curious where the hell this all led as he subconsciously leant forward in his chair. Zetsu didn't understand what was being said and occupied herself by staring out one of the empty windows and watching the wispy clouds lazily float through the orange sky.

"As I was saying," The Kazekage said, clearing his throat. "Hiruko went missing. The Hitokugutsu was never found. Three months later—and ago, the Third and Sasori went missing. I had been attending a meeting and was not present at my desk, so I personally did not see them depart. But according to eyewitnesses, they had left the Kazekage's Office and left through the main gate of Sunagakure. The Third nor Sasori never mentioned the motive behind their departure so it is unknown the reason they left. But neither returned. Then, a month ago—Hiruko reappeared—and it confirmed that he had stolen the Hitokugutsu and that the Third Kazekage and Akasuna-no-Sasori were likely dead by his hand. That picture included is how he looked—when he was human."

The Kazekage gestured for him to turn the paper and Kakuzu flicked through the paperwork until he came upon an incident report. It was written in scrawled gibberish and the blood strained into the parchment signified it being a dying man's last words. Another picture was paperclipped to the corner. Kakuzu plucked it off. It was a blurred photograph taken afar of a shadowy figure that couldn't be identified. However, it wasn't human by the scorpion-este tail protruding from the slouched silhouette.

Zetsu gasped, excitedly pointing at the picture while grinning and cooing, "Pointy." That had been what she affectionally named the scorpion she had befriended earlier. Kakuzu swatted her hand away. Geil stifled another smile at the innocent girl, having a weak spot for children due to being a father.

"That is what Hiruko looks like now after using the Hitokugutsu on himself. That picture is the only surviving evidence to support this. Although, we've had multiple reports from survivors definitely identifying it as being Hiruko."

"He used the Hitokugutsu on himself?" Kakuzu questioned as he held the two pictures of Hiruko together in comparison. He vaguely saw the resemblance, but the second picture was of too poor quality to make an accurate conclusion. "Why?"

The Kazekage sighed mournfully, shutting his dagger-looking eyes. "It is hypothesized that using the Hitokugutsu on oneself would achieve a level of immortally since the person has become what is neither alive nor dead. It was thought impossible to use the Hitokugutsu on oneself due to the—procedure—one would have to undergo. But after that picture and report was brought forth, it was evidence that a person could use the Hitokugutsu on themselves and survive."

"And this led you to the conclusion he has killed the Third and the Sasori kid?"

"Yes. The Hitokugutsu enables the user to turn humans into puppets and through this progress, that person's abilities are retained, such as jutsu and Kekkei Genkai. With it, Hiruko could transform the Third into a puppet and be capable of using his Kekkei Genkai through him. What is a more perfect puppet than a Kage? Even Akasuna-no-Sasori had been a prodigy puppeteer and would be formidable as a puppet." Kakuzu nodded. Oh yes, now he was starting to understand everything that Chiyo woman had been ranting on about like an old loonie.

"So, why haven't you arrested this bastard for stealing a Kinjutsu and suspicion of capital murder yet?"

"It hasn't stopped with the assassination of the Third Kazekage and Akasuna-no-Sasori. Hiruko has been murdering and kidnapping innocents—civilians and shinobi alike. Everyday, a new settlement outside Sunagakure is razed to the ground and its inhabitants either slaughtered or missing. We cannot keep up with the amount of victims nor him. We aren't even given adequate time to warn or evacuate townships before they're attacked also. It has been non-stop bloodshed for the past month."

"Wait, this bastard has been murdering your citizens too?" Kakuzu asked in disbelief. Perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised that a government was idly standing by inhabitants being murdered in mass. Afterall, the nations were on their Third World War.

The Kazekage sighed. "Yes."

"Why would he be attacking civilians?"

"We suspect he is using the Hitokugutsu to amass an army of human puppets to invade Sunagakure." The Kazekage admitted in a hushed voice like he was afraid of being overheard and causing mass panic.

"Alright. So, why hire the Akatsuki for this?"

"Because I'd rather sacrifice cheap mercenaries than any more than my own valuable men. If you cannot do it, I'll just keep hiring others until it is done."

Kakuzu frowned, a vein lining his eyesocket twitching. While he loathed being a slave for a government, he had to remind himself that this was what he signed up for when he joined the Akatsuki. The bullshit he went through for money. "Then I expect that payout of five million ryō payment that was promised to us."

"If you are capable of apprehending Hiruko." The Kazekage confirmed, betraying nothing if it were truth or a lie. In the background, Geil quirked an eyebrow and gifted his boss a bewildered stare but said nothing. "Thankfully, you've arrived at the perfect time because we finally have made leverage on Hiruko. Geil?"

Geil bowed then stepped forward again to share his expertise although remained behind their two guests so not to grant them a peace of mind and kept an eye on Kakuzu while he spoke—never much trusting mercenaries. "Unfortunately, this afternoon at fourteen-hundred hours, we got notification that another township had been struck—Val Habour, a sizeable farming community, one-hundred kilometers southwest from Sunagakure. It had Hiruko's handiwork—civilians murdered, including women and children—with the shinobi either dead or missing and the town itself aflame. It is the sixteenth settlement to be struck. As usual, our agents were two steps behind him. But, through this tragedy there is a glimmer of hope."

"Val Harbour and the other townships effected have been on the eastern side of Devil's Scar, a canyon which divides the Wasteland's southern-western side. Val Harbour was located in the southern-west most corner of the eastern side of the canyon. Devil's Scar's width is between eighteen and twenty-six kilometers and its length is estimated to be two-hundred kilometers—therefore it is impassable." Geil paused, staring at Kakuzu to double-check the man was still following through all his geological babble. Kakuzu nodded for him continue. Zetsu wasn't positive why Sir was nodding but she nodded too. Geil resumed on. "So, Hiruko cannot pass over it. Neither can he return up the eastern side through the townships he has already devastated because we've set patrols and rigged the remains with traps to capture him. It would be too risky. His last resort is traveling east through Sunagakure's southern side. Thankfully, there are no known settlements there due to the lack of underwater reservoirs. But, there is a bighorner ranch twenty kilometers to the south of Sunagakure—the Akiyama Ranch. If our estimates are correct, it'll be directly in Hiruko's warpath."

"Thank you, Geil." Geil bowed then returned to his post in front of the double doors, keeping an ear out for any disturbances outside. Zetsu continued nodded idioticly and Kakuzu pinched her ear to make her stop. "Basically, you'll be posted at the Akiyama Ranch. It is in the perfect point to intercept Hiruko as he passes. We've sent a vulture to the farmstead with a warning to the elderly owners to evacuate. We're are also making efforts to evacuate other potential townships might find themselves in the pathway of destruction. It has been—three hours since Val Harbour was struck. Geil, what was the approximation of when Hiruko would reach Akiyama Ranch from Val Harbour?"

"It is approximately one-hundred kilometers between each location, so it was estimated to be—between sixteen and twenty hours on foot, Lord Kazekage. However, we do not know the timeframe of when he left Val Harbour so it could be less, Lord Kazekage."

"Thank you, Geil. Then, we've between thirteen and seventeen hours until Hiruko's passing—if we are lucky. This is might be our best and last chance to intercept him and prevent other settlements from being jeopardized. Has everything thus far been understood?"

"You've trusted a lot to hypothesis." Kakuzu remarked after a moment, crossing his arms again. "How are you positive that Hiruko will pass through that way and not another?"

"We do not." Geil answered him. "We've sent vultures with cameras to record his location but each one had been quickly killed with the footage lost and we cannot spare shinobi to track him. So, all we have are our hypothesizes." Honesty was the best policy, afterall.

"If another direction is chosen then you'll sent there instead." The Kazekage easily answered.

Kakuzu sighed. He hated being sent on wild goose chases. "What of the Third and Sasori? Do I recover their bodies?"

"If Hiruko has indeed turned them into puppets then should be on Hiruko's person when you apprehend them."

"What if they're alive?" Kakuzu asked, reaching with the hypothetical question.

The Kazekage was taken back for a second. Clearly, he had been so convinced that the two men were dead and the thought of them being alive and brought back alive had stunned him, Kakuzu observed. "Then…you escort them back to Sunagakure."

"Then I expect double pay." Kakuzu countered, holding up two fingers. The Kazekage frowned, wrinkling his nose and narrowing his eyes at the offense hand like it smelt. Geil was both impressed and horrified at the man's greediness.

"If you can find the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori alive…then you shall be paid double." Came a strained answer. Nevermind, now he was just horrified, Geil realized as he gaped at his superior for agreeing to such absurd conditions but was ignored.

While Kakuzu did not buy he would get paid double for finding them alive, he was satisfied enough. "Fine. So, basically, go to this Akiyama Ranch and wait for Hiruko then capture him alive, correct?"

"Yes." The Kazekage confirmed, nodding.

"Along with the Third Kazekage and Akasuna-no-Sasori, either dead or alive."

"Yes."

"Understood."

"Understood, sir." Zetsu said too and stared at Kakuzu, misinterpreting his answer as being her trigger question. Kakuzu sighed at her dullness but didn't scold her for the blunder since it had been accidently respectful. Instead, he ruffled her hair. Geil chuckled.

"Those reports are copies so you may keep them for research." The Kazekage said, once he finished glaring at Zetsu, not taken by her adorable oblivion. He wasn't at the point yet of liking children despite his fiancée begging him for them. "We'll keep in contact so if there any new developments which happen, you'll be notified immediately. I'd suggest you leave either tonight or in the morning. We do not want to miss this window."

"This isn't my first time doing this, boy." Kakuzu jeered, unable to help himself. He might be the Kazekage, but he was also still a child. He hadn't earned that level of respect yet. Not that Kakuzu would grant him it anyway. The Kazekage sneered at him for the belittling term and locked his jaw so hard it threatened to crack his teeth. Geil bristled like a provoked feline. Obviously, both had forgotten exactly the type of person they had been speaking with for this last half-an-hour.

Kakuzu stood, snapping his fingers at Zetsu who bounced out of her chair also, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders. He tried to leave given the conclusion of this discussion but Geil intercepted him. He positioned himself in front of the behemoth-sized man, leaving no room between them so each could feel each other's breath on their face. Despite being a few inches shorted, he still had to tilt his head up to stare Kakuzu in his hidden face. Zetsu scuttled behind Kakuzu as the atmosphere suddenly turned sour—literally—and left a bad taste in her mouth.

"That is Lord Kazekage to you, merc." Geil seethed through his teeth, the scar cracked through his eye causing the eyelid to separate in a gruesome fashion with each whispered word. That alone could have freaked out a normal person into compliance. Not Kakuzu though who snorted in his face instead.

"Your new Kazekage is a child playing grown up. He's a boy, not a lord." Kakuzu explained, unfazed by his intimidation tactics.

Geil's hand twitched beneath his bandages. Seeing this, the Kazekage glowered at him and made a waving motion. Reluctantly, his personal bodyguard stood down and slicked off into the corner like a beaten mutt. Kakuzu smirked, satisfied with his victory and gifted the inexperienced Kazekage once last glance before walking out the office with Zetsu trailing behind him like a duckling. Geil kicked the doors closed behind him to vent his frustration, startling the two doorkeepers outside.

Rasa sighed, slumping in his chair and swiping his brown locks from his pulsing forehead. He was surprised he had managed to keep himself so composed through a rude mercenary and his shitty kid and the overbearing sibling combo of Chiyo and Ebizō. He deserved a drink which is exactly what he did as he leant down and fished a bottle of sake from a secret compartment in the floor underneath his desk.

"Lord Kazekage, if I may?" Geil asked once he had calmed himself down. He did not want to misspeak and accidently disrespect the Kazekage because his mood had been fouled.

"You may, Geil." Rasa said, pouring two cups of sake and nudging one across his desk for Geil who graciously accepted it.

"Have you seriously promised that Akatsuki bastard five-million ryō if he successfully apprehends Hiruko—double that if he finds the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori alive?"

"Yes. I did," Rasa confirmed, gulping down his sake and pouring himself another cup. "But I have no intention of paying up."

"Hmm?" Geil uttered mid-sip.

"Please, Geil. Did you think I would pay up such absurd amount? Sunagakure doesn't have half that amount currently with the war ongoing. We've bled every resource we've had into it, both with our shinobis and funds. I did nothing but speak the language a mercenary group such as the Akatsuki would listen to. I came up with such an insane amount because I knew it could not be ignored and it was not."

"I do not think you absurd, Lord Kazekage," Geil insisted. He threw back his own sake and quietly requested more which was granted. "However, if this Akatsuki does succeed in capturing Hiruko and—god forbid—find the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori, what will be done? I cannot imagine that man leaving quietly without pay."

"Simple, he'll be executed before he can return to me to request the payment."

"Hmm?" Again, Geil was given pause as he stared at his Kazekage over the rim of his cup.

"Yes. Either Hiruko kills him, or he successfully arrests Hiruko. If it is latter, I'll have Sunagakure military police waiting on the outskirts. After Hiruko is taken into custody, then that Akatsuki fellow shall be informed he will be given an immediate execution." Rasa shrugged, finishing his third shot.

"Do you think that he will be successful in capturing Hiruko?"

Rasa stared at his empty cup. "Tch, I'm not a religious man. Yet, I find myself praying he can—not for his sake but for the sake of my people. But, my newfound belief can only suspend reality so far. Hiruko was a decorated veteran during the Second World War and had the highest kill count in Sunagakure's history until Akasuna-no-Sasori broke it. He was never a man to be fucked with, even after that disease ravished his spine. Now with the Hitokugutsu, not only had he possibly managed to kill the Third and Akasuna-no-Sasori, but the atrocities he's been capable of against the civilians of Sunagakure in such a short time." He sighed and went for the alcohol bottle again.

"And what if this Akatsuki is successful? Then do you think the military police would be able to kill him?"

"I've arranged for a dozen military police officers to await him while another dozen lay in wait for an ambush. He cannot possibly handle that an entire fleet of such highly trained shinobi at once." Rasa boasted, staring up from the rim of his cup at his assistant. "Also, I'm assigning you to head this project. Can I trust your abilities, Geil?"

"Absolutely, Lord Kazekage!" Geil proclaimed, delighted with the gracious news and almost knocked his head against the desk when he automatically hunched over into a respectful bow. "Thank you for such an honour."

"And Geil—don't let that old hag Chiyo or Ebizō learn of this. I do not need them meddling in these affairs. They'll only interrupt everything we have planned."

"Yes, Lord Kazekage."

…

"Sister, our show will be on soon. Have you finished giving the fish their dinner?" Ebizō asked as he shuffled through the doors into the backyard of their shared home. Chiyo had excused herself earlier to feed the koi in their pond but hadn't returned since. Ebizō understood why.

The koi were happily munching on the brown pellets floating in the water but Chiyo was nowhere to be seen. Ebizō realized immediately where she had vanished too and sighed at his sibling's antics.

"It appears I'll be watching television alone tonight then." He muttered and returned inside before their program started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Oh, I want to mention that I have changed Kakuzu's height in this fiction. I felt like he was too short at just six feet, so I changed him to be six-foot-five. Just wanted to say that so everyone understood and does not think I was ignorant to that fact. He won't the only member whose height is changed, so little forewarning there.


	22. Arc 2: Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu and Zetsu leave Sunagakure to hunt after Hiruko. However, things don't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Included in this AN will be a warning for a canon character. These will be included now when a canon character is introduced and has been changed from their original canon to a new canon for Wasteland. This so the readers are not confused. Please, do not flame me for these changes. It is not creative criticism and will be ignored. These have been made for Wasteland which is considered AU and does not follow the canon in certain cases. Obviously, since Zetsu is female. That said, thank you for reading and understanding.
> 
> Warning(s): Language (Med), Genderbend (Low), Violence (High), Blood/Gore (High), OC
> 
> Character Warning(s): Hiruko: Accent

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 21**

"What the fuck are you looking at, girl?" Kakuzu barked, after noticing Zetsu look over her shoulder for the umpteenth time that hour like a suspect on the run. He looked back and again, saw nothing behind them except miles of rustling sand and tumbleweed. Sunagakure couldn't even be seen in the distance from their location.

Zetsu flinched, looking at him before subconscious glancing behind her again then instantly back to him. Should she tell him of the friendly firefly that had been following them since they left? Maybe she shouldn't. He might scare it away and she didn't want that because it was so warm. It reminded her of Konan. Better than Sir's firefly which red hot and aggressive—another new word she learned. So, Zetsu answered by downcasting her gaze to her dusty shoes while she shuffled through the sand and Kakuzu huffed but left it be. He had more important manners to burden himself with then fretting over her bizarre behaviour.

Apparently, the elderly couple which owned the Akiyama Ranch—the Akiyama's—had granted permission for Kakuzu to squat in their farmhouse in preparation for Hiruko and had acknowledged the evacuation notice. However, due to their older age and health issues, traveling to Sunagakure by themselves would be too dangerous and had requested an escort. Kakuzu was asked to do it. Although, he called bullshit on the favour since two officers could be spared to interrupt his reading instead of doing the job themselves, but he agreed regardless. He was an asshole, but he wasn't going to stand aside and let two innocent civilians be murdered or perish in the desert—unlike their government. Now, his current objection was to safely chaperon the couple back to Sunagakure first. He wasn't doing it entirely out of the kindness of his heart though. Once back, he would politely ask the ranchers to babysit Zetsu while he handled this contract by himself. He didn't trust leaving the girl by herself, even if she were locked in a hotel room, and didn't need her having another accident either. Then, he would return alone to await Hiruko.

Regarding Hiruko, Kakuzu had thoroughly researched the paperwork generously donated about him the previous evening. Immediately, the fact the middle-aged man was a puppeteer brought up issues. He had never fought a puppeteer. During his initial shinobi career, puppets had been used to entertain children and elderly citizens, not warfare. Even in the First World War, the art of puppetry had been in its infancy and he never encountered one on the battlefield. So, his experience fighting one was zero, but he was cautiously optimist. Afterall, Hiruko was notorious for having ownership to the highest kill count in Sunagakure's history. This bastard wasn't a pushover, especially now with this Hitokugutsu Kinjutsu. This may be his biggest challenge since that Mayfly Man, but nothing like Hashirama.

Heaving a sigh, he itched his chin underneath his bandana and rifled in his slacks pocket for the map of Sunagakure supplied. The Akiyama Ranch had been inked with pen onto it since it was considered too tiny to be listed originally. If they had departed upon being contacted by law enforcement, which was at midnight, he approximated they should be arriving at their destination soon despite their casual pace and didn't break. It also gave him ample time to run back. Luckily, the rare thunderstorm was polluting the dawning sky over the Wastelands, blotting out the smouldering sun with angry, black clouds. It had turned traversing the ordinarily baking desert into a pleasant scroll. However, when Zetsu wasn't whiplashing her neck, she was skulking against Kakuzu's leg in response to the thunder rumbling overhead or the distant flash of lightning. He'd kick her off and ignored her subsequent whimpering.

"Hush up, girl. Listen—you'll be staying with an elderly couple while I'm working. While you're with them, you'll be respectful and obedient until I return to pick you up."

"Re—spec—full?" Zetsu vocalized, clamouring back to Sir so he didn't leave her behind. That was a word she hadn't read in her dictionary yet.

"Respectful. It means you'll be polite and courteous." Two other words she didn't understand but she nodded still. Kakuzu glanced at her and huffed. "Maybe if you're well-behaved, they'll let you pet the animals."

"Animals? Not-peoples?"

"Yes. I shouldn't take too long, so it shouldn't give you enough time to raise Hell for them," He uttered under his breath. "We should be arriving at the ranch soon." He lifted his sunglasses, squinting his eyes at the horizon. In the far distance, he could faintly observe the red tips of a windmill lazily spiraling in the breeze, confirming his theory. Satisfied, he walked faster.

Although, several steps in, he noticed the lack of footsteps reverberating his own in the sand. He paused, assuming Zetsu's little legs couldn't keep pace with his long stride and politely waited for her. When the teenager didn't immediately scuttle back aside him though, he bent his neck to search for his missing shadow. Zetsu was standing feet behind—just standing there. Kakuzu frowned. He hadn't notice her stop.

"Girl," He barked, snapping his fingers impatiently. "The fuck are you doing? Get over here!" She didn't move, which was bizarre since she would ordinarily scamper to him once he started yelling. She just stood there, frozen stiff. Her naturally large, almond-shaped eyes were unnaturally large and staring straightforward, unblinking, and her lips were stretched thin across her locked canines. Something must've spooked her.

"Girl." He grumbled, marching back to her position. "What the hell has been with you? You've been acting strange since we left." He towered over her, crossing his arms and tapping his boot while he awaited her answer.

Zetsu flickered her widened gaze to him for a solid minute. "F-Firefly…" She stammered, finally. Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow, lost by the single word—considering his infinite knowledge of her broken language.

"What?"

"Firefly." She reuttered, voice raising "Aggressive—red! Hot, hot, hot! Like Sir firefly! Big! Mean!" After flailing her arms to demonstrate, she pointed at him then franticly in the direction of their destination. She stared at him, her golden orbs pleading him to understand. He didn't have the slightest idea what she was on about though. But after a moment of speculating it, it finally struck him. She wasn't speaking about actual fireflies, she was speaking about chakra signatures. Fireflies was her primitive term for them.

If it was a chakra signature then, according to her, it was large and hostile, and it was radiating from the Akiyama Ranch. It had to be Hiruko, nothing else explained it. A civilian couldn't generate a chakra signature that sizable nor could a god-forbid bighorner. If true then, that meant the Kazekage's estimation had been off since they should have had hours left before he was supposed to arrive. And if it was Hiruko, that meant the Akiyama's were in trouble—although that was the least of his concerns at the moment. This was their "golden opportunity" to corner him and it was going to be missed. He was not going to chase this bastard to the ass-ends of the Wastelands. Kakuzu muttered a curse and gritted his teeth. He should have known this would go wrong too. He had such shit luck since the brat arrived. She had to be an omen.

Zetsu yipped when Kakuzu suddenly yanked her up by her backpack and was hoisted onto his bandaged arm. After being steadfastly cradled against his chest, the felon broke into a run towards the Akiyama Ranch—all while praying Hiruko hadn't left yet. It would have taken between a half-an-hour and hour by walking to reach the ranch, but by sprinting, it had only taken him only several minutes.

The Akiyama Ranch was as tiny as foretold. It constituted of an attractive, yet modest-sized wooden farmhouse. Behind it was large pen ramshackled together with barb wire around wooden posts driven in the sand. The squealing metal windmill witnessed before was positioned at a corner of the pen—and everything had been painted red. The cabin's door was smeared with it with a trail leading from a large puddle of it on the front steps—there was the red Kakuzu had observed on the windmill but what he hadn't noticed was the disturbingly organ-like substance which was wound around the blades and hung from them like grotesque decoration. One had been tied around the pillar and led down into the corral—the corral itself housed a jumble of minced meat and horn which coated the ground and was being besieged upon by an army of buzzing flies—whatever had been inside no longer resembled nothing but an explosion of gore. The gut-wrenching odor of sun-baked rot could be smelt from their position several yards away and Kakuzu clenched his nose underneath his bandana. Zetsu gagged and hid her nose inside the collar of her shirt. He gently rested her onto the ground and she immediately crouched behind his legs, trembling and whimpering.

She felt herself being drowned in an inescapable sensation of horror upon being within such close proximately to the malicious chakra signature. Her mouth tasted thick with invisible blood that made her stomach simultaneously sour and grumble and her nostrils burned with the lingering aroma of death. The firefly—it was so cankerous and aggressive and bright red! Like Sir's firefly but this firefly wanted to kill Sir's firefly—it wanted to make it not alive and make her not alive like it made every other firefly here not alive! She wanted Konan—she wanted the friendly firefly here!

Kakuzu stared at Zetsu who had dissolved into a pile of sniveling and tears. "Girl, he's here, isn't he?" He questioned. He could have taken her borderline panic attack as confirmation, but he wanted a straight answer from her instead. However, no sooner had he asked that question, there was the distant noise of shuffling sand. He jerked his head towards the source, mentally and physically preparing himself. Zetsu released a low whine, shielding her head between her knees.

A figure shambled out from behind the house several yards ahead, squat and bulking yet pitch black and indistinguishable, cloaked in shadows. It could have been either animal or person. Then, he saw it—the distinctive metallic scorpion tail—its silver sheen glimmered sinisterly with each leisurely swaying and its spade swinging back and forth, hung like a noose and coated in that familiar red which streaked it with rivers and waterfalled off the barb, dripping quietly into the sand. The roaring of thunder eerily announced the individual's entrance. It was Hiruko.

Once Kakuzu noticed him, Hiruko had noticed them. His bloodshot eyes inched in their sockets and pinpointed their gaze onto Kakuzu and while he could not see this, he certainly felt them penetrating through him. Zetsu even felt it and shivered. He stared back, issuing a silent challenge to his target. An eon had elapsed by and finally, Hiruko volunteered first to interrupt the pregnant tension between them.

"Oi. The 'ell're you?" He asked, loud enough for Kakuzu to hear while the two kept their respective distances—his voice like the oceaning sand around them, gravel and rough, underscored by an idiosyncratic accent.

" _I_ would be the one sent by Sunagakure to arrest you." Kakuzu explained. Obviously, the answer had tickled a funny bone because Hiruko laughed—a genuine belly laugh which caused his entire being to bounce and his tail to wriggle, splashing the sand and adjacent structures with fresh blood.

"Tha' so? I'm disappoint'd. Thought Rasa'd finally spare a shinobi, not more rubbish."

Kakuzu's lip twitched. Zetsu flinched—Sir's firefly was fluttering. "I promise you, I am not _rubbish_."

" _Tha' so_?" Hiruko challenged, voice lowering further into the gravel pit, his tail lashing against the sand and kicking up a red-tinted cloud. Kakuzu wasn't intimidated by the little show, and stood his ground, even standing firm once the hermit started approaching him—exiting the darkness into the muffled silver lighting—and wasn't he incredibly uglier than his identification picture?

A debilitating disease, plus years of poor posture, had disfigured him with a grotesquely hunched back. It had practically rendered him quadruped like an animal instead of a human—late human, rather—as he shuffled through the sand towards them, soil dusting the dark fabric of his cloak. Thankfully, he had chosen to hide the bottom half of his face with a black bandana, leaving just his shrunken eyes visible, reducing the amount of hideousness viewable. It was similar to Kakuzu. Although, that one little comparison was enough to insult the brunet.

Hiruko paused, leaving barely a yard between he and Kakuzu, and coiled his scorpion-este tail against his back like a snoozing snake, indicating passiveness. Kakuzu wasn't buying it though as he kept his jaw locked and wrapped fists clenched. Zetsu whimpered, pressing against her mentor's calves. Unfortunately, Hiruko was notified to her presence through her mewling as his eyes twitched from Kakuzu instead in her direction, spying her elbow poking out from behind him.

"Wha' shinobi brings their pup to'a battlefield?" He drawled.

"She isn't my _pup,_ she's my subordinate."

Hiruko muttered a thoughtful noise. "Eitha' or—it wasn' wise ta bring a brat with—makes fer easy target practice." His metallic tail laid itself across his humped back and arched into a striking position, the spade pointed towards the exposed little arm.

Kakuzu outstretched his arm to obscure Zetsu from the puppeteer, an action performed subconsciously rather than instinctively towards her. "She has nothing to do with this. This is between you and I."

Hiruko snorted. "Then I'll 'appily kill ya firs'—then I'll take my sweet time torturin' 'er nex'." That was the one and only warning given before he quickly thrusted his tail at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu managed to activate his Doton in the split second before the sharpened tip jabbed him and he backhanded the stinger away. The deafening collision of the two metal weapons pierced the air and vibrating through eardrums. Zetsu yelled out in a mixture of fear and pain and plugged up her stabbed ears with her fingers. The power behind the strike sent the tail barreling to the ground in an explosion of dust and sand. Hiruko muttered another noise, one voicing vexation while simultaneously, he was fascinated.

"Impressive. An average shinobi'd be felled by tha' one 'tack. Hmm, we 'aven' met 'fore, 'ave we? I recognize ya from somewhere, but I can' pinpoint' it." He speculated, eyeballing Kakuzu while he scavenged through the depths of his memories for a name to match the little bit of visible face.

"We've never met before, nor will we meet again after this battle because I'll defeat you and turn you over to Sunagakure." Kakuzu promised, keeping his arm hardened.

Hiruko chuckled. "Cheeky, ain't we? Awright then, let's see if you'll be in the rare percentage of shinobi which survive two 'tacks from me." There was an eruption of sand as his tail emerged from its hiding spot directly behind Kakuzu and lurched at him. Zetsu screamed again, hiding her face but Kakuzu was prepared.

He hadn't been distracted by their casual little conversation and had noticed the tail sneakily slithering underneath the sand to position itself behind him. Immediately, he spun around and punched his brass hand back at it. However, the stinger stopped inches from registering with his fist and ducked underneath, leaving him swiping at the empty air.

Hiruko guided the tail towards Kakuzu's exposed abdomen. "Checkmate." He grunted, his smirking audible.

Kakuzu had been anticipating such a cheap tactic though. He had casted his midsection also and waited for the spade to harmlessly ricochet off his rockhard abs for a gifted counterattack. Then, a recognizable gleaming twinkled caught the corner of his eye and he jerked his head backwards the exact moment a shuriken went cartwheeling past his face, narrowly nicking his nose. Hiruko noticed it also and swatted it away with his stinger, sending it spiraling into the sand.

"Huh?" By Hiruko's bewildered exclamation, he hadn't been responsible for the unanticipated attack which Kakuzu had suspected being another sneak attempt by him. However, when Zetsu peeked between her fingers, she released an excited gasp at the figure approaching from the horizon and the one responsible for the little surprise. It was the friendly firefly!

"Sorry, boy. But if anyone is going to defeat Hiruko, it'll be me." An unknown yet strangely distinct voice proclaimed behind him. Kakuzu divided his attention from the mysterious discarded weapon to their uninvited guest, grimacing upon recognizing them.

"You're that woman from the Kazekage's Office."

Chiyo smiled sweetly back at him as she shuffled up to Kakuzu. "You're that Akatsuki boy." She then noticed the excited little girl staring at her and frowned. "You brought your daughter here? You're a very irresponsible father!"

"She isn't my _daughter,_ she's my subordinate." He grumbled.

"Subordinate? So, you've introduced an innocent child to a criminal enterprise? Either or—she shouldn't be here." Chiyo criticized him, brazenly wagging her finger in his face then looked at Zetsu and smiled sweetly. "Hello, sweetie. What's your name?" Kakuzu grunted. He felt like he just experienced déjà vu.

"Zetsu." Zetsu answered and smiled widely, taking the grandmother aback upon seeing her mouthful of unnatural, canine teeth. Besides that, the girl seemed sweet enough to rot teeth.

"Heh, ain't this'a surprise? 'ello, Lady Chiyo." Hiruko greeted in the background so not to be forgotten, voice dripping faux benevolence, withdrawing his liberated tail and waving at her with it.

Chiyo's attention sidetracked to Hiruko, her grandmotherly attitude deviating in a millisecond to something rotten as her dark eyes narrowed and wrinkled lips pressed into a thin line as she stared her old student—so abruptly so that it successfully scared Zetsu who questioned if she had been mistaken about her friendly firefly.

" _Hiruko_." Chiyo sneered, taking a threatening step forwards, the smothering thunderstorm overhead exploding again with the mere mention of his name. "You bastard! Where is the Third? Where is Sasori!?"

"Straigh' to it then?" He acknowledged. "Awright then—I'll let ya see 'em. I 'aven' met anyone worth showin' my newes' puppets ta yet."

"Bastard!" She shrieked again, taking another step when Kakuzu intervened, outstretching an arm to block her path. He had quickly experienced how dirty Hiruko's fighting tactics were and didn't put it pass the bastard indeed to take her aggressive approach as permission to pull out another dirty trick of them both.

Chiyo glowered at Kakuzu for his interference and Hiruko chuckled, his artificial appendage anxiously rustled the sand. "Don' 'urt yerself now, Lady Chiyo. Er, should I say, _Granny Chiyo?"_

Instantly, the older woman bristled at the affectionate nickname which was not shared between herself and the person speaking it. She wrestled herself away from Kakuzu and stepped past him. "Please take your daug—subordinate and leave, Akatsuki Boy. I'll handle Hiruko myself."

"Hell no. He's my target. I've been hired to apprehend him." He argued, pointing at himself then thrusting his thumb over his shoulder. "You can leave."

"I couldn't give a rat's backside if Rasa hired you! This bastard kidnapped my grandson! I deserve my pound of flesh!" She spun around, standing on her toes to scream this directly into Kakuzu's bandanaed face without hesitation considering the size difference. Zetsu shrank herself between the two feuding adults, their flittering fireflies making her nauseated.

He snarled, resisting the urge to punch the woman due to the sole fact she was old, and he didn't walk around assaulting the elderly—unless money was involved which may soon make one of those rare situations. "And I don't give a fuck about your petty revenge! I won't let you jeopardize my paycheck!"

"Ha! Typical mercenary! Doesn't care about anything except money! Green-eyed, materialistic, money-grubbing, the lot of you!"

"Hmm, two people fightin' over which can defeat me? I've never felt so 'onour'd." Hiruko snickered aloud as he idly stood by on the sidelines, watching entertained at the heated argument happening over him.

This wisecrack interrupted the heated glaring contest between Chiyo and Kakuzu as both glowered at Hiruko instead. They exchanged side glances and after a moment, there was a silent yet mutual decision between them that fighting with each other was idiotic when the cause of their ire was directly in front them and to put aside their differences—for the time being.

Chiyo flickered her gaze at Zetsu. She had glued herself to Kakuzu's leg and was hugging his knee in an adorable display. The grandmother frowned though. It wasn't safe for her to remain here and she would be devastated if anything befell the innocent girl. Hiruko had already hurt enough children during his rampage if the abhorrent rumours were true. She searched around for somewhere the girl could hide and wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Her sight was drawn to the farmhouse and her frowning turned into a grimace upon seeing the amount of blood which smeared the wooden structure. The Akiyama's…she hadn't known them well, but she had known them well enough from their few encounters. She had frequently brought Sasori to the farmstead when he was little, after his parents' deaths, to feed the bighorners while she had tea with the ranchers. They were incredibly modest people with their only bragging right being their son who had finished medical school and became a doctor. She couldn't remember his name though. Now, he would have to be found and told of his parents' unfortunate demises.

Kakuzu traced Chiyo's spaced stare to the house and he realized that he had to find somewhere to hide Zetsu. Having her in the middle of this was too large a risk since she might ether die, or be triggered again. Either or would not fare well in his favour. The house was her best chance at a hiding place, though he was hesitant since he might be ordering her into a bloodbath, given the blood spilt outside alone, and he wasn't positive if that would be enough traumatize her into another fit. He didn't have much other choice, however.

"Girl," Zetsu lifted her face at Kakuzu who kept his gaze locked onto Hiruko while he addressed her. "Go to the house. Run."

Zetsu glanced at the said house than back up at him, squeezing his knee nervously and frowning. "Run? Run nows?"

"Yes. But, listen. Whatever is inside, do not look at it. Just find somewhere to hide and wait until I'm finished. I'll get you. Leave for no reason, understood?"

"Understood." She agreed, hushed.

He reached down and gently pried her off his leg, nudging her behind him instead while took a few steps aside so she had a straight shot to the house without leaving herself susceptible. Chiyo saw this and adjusted beside him to provide extra coverage for the teenager. Once both were in place, he gave the signal.

"Run, girl! Run!"

Zetsu didn't have to be told twice as she immediately ran for the house. She didn't stop, even when her frantic fleeing caused sand to trickle into her shoes and the little pebbles dug painfully into the bottoms of her feet. She reached the porch and scrambled up the bloodsoaked steps. However, the blood was fresh and wet, and her sole slipped, sending her tumbling onto the deck with a yip. She sat up, whimpering and touching her aching backside from the fall. When she brought her hand back, she went rigid and golden orbs widening upon seeing the crimson painted onto her hand. Flashbacks washed over her from the incident weeks ago. The bloodcurdling screaming, the iron flavour of blood on her tastebuds and flesh she found wedged later between her teeth. Something inside her whispered without speaking, dark sweet nothings to something hidden in her soul, primal and savage. However, whatever it was, her fear overrode it as flight overtook her and she scrambled to her feet, nearly slipping again. She fumbled with the doorknob, struggling to grasp it due to the bodily fluid slicking her hand. Finally, she twisted it open and ducked inside the house. Her backpack caught on the knob inside, causing her to trip but managed to close the door behind her as she fell.

Once the door clicked shut, Kakuzu released the breath he had been holding in. He was relieved, not for Zetsu's safety, but rather now there would be no chance of another accident happening now she was safely locked up and away from danger. Now, he could focus on the reason he was in the middle of nowhere. He cracked his knuckles and neck, glowering at Hiruko through his sunglasses as he tightened the bandages wrapped around his hands. Chiyo prepared herself also, taking position with her arms raised and fingers spread, blue chakra sparkling on her fingertips. Hiruko remained motionless, his hollowed eyes unblinking and staring them both down while his tail swished through the sand, leaving sand angels behind. The thunderclouds were finally breached as warm rainwater softly pattered to the wasteland below, steadily thickening the sand into mud.

"I didn't believe that Hiruko was idiotic enough to have used the Hitokugutsu on himself. But now that I've seen it, I realize that fighting himself myself may've been a wee ambitious. This isn't the Hiruko I remember." Chiyo muttered to herself, though loud enough for Kakuzu to hear, glancing at him through the corner of her eye before returning her squinted eyesight to said person a second later. Now that she had a moment, she gave him a glance over and realized he didn't even resemble the person she once knew, perhaps physically but nothing else. It was like she was staring at a stranger. "Can I trust that you'll cooperate with me, Akatsuki Boy?"

"Just Akatsuki," Kakuzu started, tried of the 'boy' title when it was fact he was significantly older than her, which might be unbelievable to her. "And I can handle this bastard myself. I've fought motherfuckers a lot scarier than him."

"May be but Hiruko isn't a human anymore, he's a puppet! That by itself has made him more dangerous than a human being. Now let me educate you, _boy._ What makes puppets so terrifying are their mechanisms which can launch attacks from anywhere—and if I know Hiruko, he's boobytrapped himself with several traps hidden on his person in the short time he's been a puppet. All which are poisonous. So, you cannot run in and punch him like you would a person! You'll kill yourself!"

"So, what do you purpose we do, _hag_?" He rebutted, maliciously spitting out the nickname. She clicked her tongue to voice her dislike.

"Since neither of us have knowledge of what traps he has installed himself with, we'll have to avoid them by all costs which means having the ability to avoid an attack in an instant if any of them is triggered."

"Alright, so avoid. How the fuck are we supposed to defeat him, though?"

"Puppets have weak points in their foundation—all puppets have them, even if made by a master craftsman. Even with the Hitokugutsu, I believe Hiruko has them too. So, we must find his weak point and target it. That should be enough to disable him."

"'Avoid an attack in an instant if any of them is triggered' and 'find his weak point and target it'. Easy."

"It may be but it is not so don't josh yourself."

"'urry with it, I 'ate waitin'." Hiruko interrupted, narrowing his eyes as his tail whiplashed itself against the ground in impatience. Chiyo frowned, troubled by the trademark phrase which was not characteristic of the person speaking it, but convinced herself it was just a coincidence. Although, it was another addition to a growing list of things which did not sit right with her.

"Obliged." Kakuzu muttered and stepped forward, flexing his biceps. A ringing echoed out, like a sword being unsheathed, as his Doton activated again a millisecond later and coated his arms in dark bronze. Hiruko uttered a noise underneath his breath although his facial features betrayed nothing of his thought process as even his tailed went still also. Chiyo found herself swallowing her breath in anticipation and had perspiration bead on her fingertips from the warmth of the chakra pooled in them. The air thickened with smothering humidity and tension as the three parties stared at each other, waiting for the other to move first.

Finally, after several tense seconds, Kakuzu lunged at him with his arm cocked back for a punch. Hiruko didn't hesitate in his counterattack at his tail bulleted back at him, sharpened tip aimed for a killing blow. Both had taught each other from their short-lived skirmish earlier. So, when Kakuzu attempted to strike the tail away, Hiruko quickly swiveled the stinger past his fist and his arm to hit the underside of the extremity, sending embers flying as the two metals grinded against each other. Kakuzu threw his head against his shoulder as the spade darted past his face and it sliced through the fabric of his bandana in a grazing hit. The tail recovered quickly from the missed attack and arched itself behind him, plunging again at the back of his head. Kakuzu heard the telltale swishing of air and made the beginning motions to duck. When he did, it was with remarkable ease, like someone had oiled his old joints and he almost tripped over himself with the sudden gained dexterity. Maybe the mud squishing underneath his boots had made him slip a little because it was like his body had done it itself without his assistance.

He straightened up after the second failed attack and gazed down at his gloved hands as he clenched them and flexed his biceps. There was a bizarre tingling in them which bridged down his spine and into his legs. It was an abnormal and evasive warmth which he recognized immediately. He squinted his eyes and searched his arms, confirming his theory when he spied a faint flickering. There was a shimmering, thread-like material which was attached to his arms, numbered one to his wrists and elbows. He wasn't an idiot of its source and turned his head, glowering at Chiyo from the side opening of his sunglasses. She was standing several feet behind him with her hands laid out inconspicuously at her sides. Each invisible string linked directly back to the older woman's fingertips, numbering ten in total for each finger. Chiyo glared back and lifted a finger to her thin lips to hush him.

' _I'm helping you. Now hush up.'_ Her own glaring practically read out to him. Sighing, he returned his attention to Hiruko. He hated having other handicapping him in battle.

Hiruko had withdrawn his tail after the failed raid and it rattled as the hunchbacked man secretly schemed another onslaught. While he did, Kakuzu kept his defenses up and took the chance to analyze him, searching for potential areas of weakness while planning his own offense. It was obvious his tail was his main weapon or maybe his only weapon so if he disabled it, then all he would have to worry about would be the traps hidden on his body. If he avoided those then Hiruko was as good as incapacitated. How to disable it was another issue. He couldn't simply punch it into pieces given its steel structure, so he'd have to think of something else to cripple it.

He wasn't given much more time to think about it though, because Hiruko was attacking again. He thrusted his tail at him in a straight shot and Kakuzu lifted his hardened arms to block the hit instead of retaliating. If he did that, they'd just be engaged in the same song and dance forever until one of them tired—or rather Kakuzu tired since Hiruko couldn't. He had to test his pattern so he could get a solid hit in. The stinger did as it had before, stopping inches from impacting his arms and instead, corkscrewed towards his side which had been left exposed. Kakuzu had figured he would do this, given he had done this twice before, and three strikes confirmed his theory of Hiruko's cheap tricks. What Hiruko didn't realize was that while attempting to exploit Kakuzu's weaknesses, he had exploited his own in the process. Kakuzu smirked victoriously when he saw his chance and snatched it—literally.

Hiruko muttered a surprised noise when Kakuzu hooked his Doton infused arm around his tail and hugged it against his side. He tried to pull it back, but it did nothing as its circular joints squealed in objection with his persistent yanking. Kakuzu didn't budge either, like he had been glued in place. Unbeknownst to Hiruko, in the background, Chiyo was straining her chakra strings thin to prevent her little friend from being dragged away. She coiled them around her hands for extra traction and winced them the hot threading sliced into her withering skin.

"Release me!" Hiruko screamed, eyes bulging further and further in their sockets with each angrily shouted word. He tugged harder until he was digging both his hands and feet into the muddy sand for leverage like a captured animal.

"Not fucking happening." Kakuzu gritted through his teeth and squeezed the tail tighter, ignoring the pain as its joints pitched into his skin.

' _This Akatsuki Boy learned quickly._ ' Chiyo thought and smirked. She could have been coloured impressed if he weren't a green-eyed, materialistic, money-grubbing mercenary. "Hold him, Akatsuki Boy. I'll attach my chakra strings to his tail. Once I do, I'll hold onto him while you search for his weak point."

"Fucking hurry with it!"

"No, ya don'." Hiruko hissed, having overheard their little plot.

The circular joints between the segments of the tail swiveled over and separated, revealing tiny canisters hidden inside. Kakuzu saw them but it was too late as they spewed a high-pressured gas directly into his face. He was forced to release the extremity as he clenched his hand over his nose and mouth to prevent himself from breathing the unknown fumes for the chance they were poisonous. Chiyo jumped back and watched as billowing smoke swallowed up Kakuzu and obscured her view of Hiruko. The colour of the smoke was not tinted, indicating to her it was not poisonous and just normal smoke for the sole purpose of evasion. Kakuzu figured this out also when there were no telltale signs of it being dangerous such as intense burning of his skin or his eyes watering. It was just a normal smokescreen.

It erected a new problem though. He could no longer see Hiruko. The smoke was too thick and dark which gave this bastard the perfect chance to ambush them both until the wind blew it away. Where and when was a mystery so all he do could was prepare himself. Since his eyesight was useless, he relied on his other senses as he listened for any indication of an incoming attack or the ground quivering underneath his feet. It felt like time had slowed to a crawl as he waited and waited. He had centralized his hearing so acutely that he could hear his own blood pumping through each of his five hearts. Finally, he heard it. It was a high-pitched whistling, but it wasn't the wind. It was to his right and in the middle, not up high or down low. With that information, he took two large sidesteps aside. At that exact moment, Hiruko's tail barreled through the smoke. It skewered through the spot Kakuzu had once been standing which would have resulted in gruesome bisection.

Unfortunately, from Chiyo's position, she could not see nor hear what was happening in the shrouding smokescreen. Her chakra threads were still inked to Kakuzu she knew his location inside but nothing else. So, when he suddenly jerked aside, it communicated as a dodge to her and she should do the same. However, in that same spilt second, Hiruko's tail erupted from the smoke cloud and hurtled towards her. She motioned to dodge but it was traveling faster than her muscles could move her out of its path. It was going to hit her, leaving her with nothing to do but attempt to angle herself to minimize the damage dealt. She squeezed shut her eyes and clenched her jaw, bracing herself for the impact.

…

The inside of the house was eerily quiet with the rain pattering on the roof, while outside, thunder and the various noises of fighting could be heard.

Zetsu freed herself from the doorknob and climbed to her feet, dusting herself off. She looked around, observing her new surroundings. She had entered into the humble living area of the house. The walls were pasted with hideous, mustard-coloured, flower print wallpaper with dozens of framed pictures crowding it, a table with a woven bowl on it with sewing supplies in it and a half-knitted scarf, which was in the middle of two loveseats and a recliner. It reminded her of the houses that grandparents had in her cartoons. Except that once she looked down, she released is wasn't a cartoon, but a horror movie.

Blood was smudged on the floorboards and soaked into the rug—not a little, but a lot. It was trailed through the living room and into the bridging hallway to her right. Zetsu swallowed thickly while staring at the smeared substance, a cluster of thoughts bombarding her on whether or not to see where it went. She didn't feel any fireflies in the house, but maybe they were hiding from the bad firefly? Maybe they were hurt and needed help? She might be the only person who could help them now. However, Sir said not to look. But the fireflies… She swallowed again and cautiously tiptoed towards the hallway, wary not to step on the drying blood. The hallway was dark, the lights turned off when she peeked around the corner down it. She didn't know where the switch was though, so she would have to transverse it in the darkness. That thought alone made her more apprehensive to investigate. She hated the dark because monsters lived in the dark which is the reason she had to sleep with her window open and wouldn't use the bathroom at night—but she couldn't leave the fireflies, could she? Monsters would, and she would too because she was a monster…no. No! She would save the fireflies and prove she was not a monster!

With that, she sighed deeply then inhaled, preparing herself and praying there were no other monsters as she stepped inside the shadowy hallway. The blood was sticky, and she cringed when it stuck to her shoes as she walked through it. There were two doors on each side of the hallway and one at the end, all of which were closed shut. One by one, she hesitantly opened each of them to a crack and squinted through it, searching for evidence for anyone which may be hidden inside. When she saw no one, she let out a little 'hello' too with little result. She found nothing in either bedroom, or in the bathroom, or broom closet. Then, she came upon the last door. She couldn't see it, but by the syrupy puddle she was standing it, this is where the blood led. Her stomach soured, and she found herself shaking in unconscious anticipation of what may be on the other side. With a gulp, she grasped for the doorknob with a trembling hand and twisted it, breaching it open to a tiny gap.

It was pitched black when she glanced inside. A heavy, metallic scent wafting through the crack and invaded her nose, making her wrench back and gag. It smelt like a lot of blood, and she swallowed down the salvia puddling on her mouth. Squeezing her nose shut, she pushed the door open further and stared into the darkness. After a moment, her eyes adjusted, and she noticed it was not a room, but a narrow stairwell. It was like the one in their house, so it must lead to a basement. Immediately, the realization made her heart drop. She hated basements because they were dark too. But she couldn't leave the fireflies!

"Hello? Fireflies?" She whispered down and waited patiently for a response. The quiet creaking of the foundation being pushed by the wind was her only answer. "Hello!?" Nothing. Well, there was nothing left to do but go down…All she had to do was check if the fireflies were okay and then she could leave.

One by one, she crept down the ill-lighted stairwell, searching blindly for each step with her foot. The rotting wood creaked and slumped underneath her gooey shoes, making her fear she might tumble down them. Her nose was becoming sore from her pitching it shut so she unplugged it—and instantly regretted it. The smell was getting worse, sickening so, which meant she was inching closer to the blood source and the fireflies. She sheltered her nose again and resumed slinking down, step by step. Then, something cold and long brushed against Zetsu's forehead and she jerked back, squeaking. She swatted at the unknown object and it hooked between her fingers when she brought her hand down. She was blinded by a light and winced, blinking her eyes rapidly to ease them of the pain associated with the sudden lighting change. Her eyes adjusted after a second and she wiped away the tears as she stared at the thing that had attacked her. It was a rusted, silver chain which hung down from to an old lightbulb screwed into the wall. It was dim, but still bright enough that it bathed the stairs with its warm, orange glow. Zetsu felt a weight lifted from her with the vanquishing of the darkness but there was still the anxiety of what lurked below. She had made it halfway down so there was no going back now unless she wanted to admit to being a monster.

Mustering all her courage, she hurried down the reminder of the stairs and emerged at the bottom, finishing her little journey. The basement light illuminated across the concrete floor and the junk which had been stacked in front of the stairwell. There were boxes of toys and miscellaneous items, but no fireflies inside. She turned and searched the rest of the basement, but it was swallowed by the intimate shadiness and her eyes could see nothing except vague silhouettes. There had to be another light then, she thought, otherwise, how did anyone find anything? She was the smartest.

She reached up one of her hands and waved it around, searching for a chain. When she felt nothing, she shuffled forward a bit and continued swiping at the air. Another step—and her foot landed onto something. It was squishy, but when she applied pressure, it released a gruesome crunching which made her blood run ice cold. She backpedaled and her hand, which was still outstretched, brushed against something cold and familiar. She wrapped her fingers around it. It was a chain. She yanked down on it without a second thought—and doing so would forever haunt her.

The light flickered on, brighter and newer than its counterpart, and left nothing to the imagination. With it, she saw what she had stepped on and inhaled sharply. It was a hand attached to an amputated arm. Beside it laid a massacre. Human bodies chopped and diced into gorey chunklets marinated in blood with limbs sprawled and protruding bone lying fragmented. She wanted to scream but the noise would be too shrill, too horrified that it caught in her throat all she could do was squeak like a frightened mouse. As she backpedaled away, her foot caught something and sent her tumbling hard to the ground. She whimpered, prying herself off the adhesive-like blood puddling the floor and looked at what had tripped her up. It was a human head, its jaw locked mid scream and its clouded eyes budging in their sockets, staring their dead gaze straight at her. This time, she screamed. However, something interrupted the high-pitched noise escaping her and her jaw snapped shut like a bear trap upon sensing it.

It was hot; it was angry; it was nearby; it was— _the firefly!?_ Just then, the floorboards over her head creaked, then again, and again, causing dust cascade from between them. Footsteps. The firefly was inside the house. She gasped. Impossible! Sir was supposed to be playing with the firefly! How did it get inside!? Her train wreck of questioning inside her head came to a screeching halt as she realized the footsteps were growing nearer, one by one. The firefly was walking towards her. She had to hide!

Franticly, her eyes searched for anything, anywhere that might function as a hiding place. They landed upon an old wardrobe, sitting against the wall. It wasn't that large, but neither was Zetsu, so it was perfect, and she scurried towards it. She was relieved to discover it was void of shelving on the inside and squeezed herself inside, shutting the doors. A keyhole permitted her to peek outside as she watched and waited nervously for the firefly.

Upstairs, the firefly was checking each room as evident by the footsteps backtracking and the kicking of doors. It was searching for her. She gulped, clinching her jaw to prevent her canines from clattering as she started shaking again. The firefly was soon at the basement door and it clicked open. Unfortunately, the keyhole's line of sight was limited so she could not see the firefly as it descended the stairs and listened instead to the creaking with each step. Then, a figure walked in front of the wardrobe, shadowed by the light. The firefly searched around as its head turned right then left, and she held her breath, afraid it would be heard and she would be found. Finally, after a minute, the firefly gave up its search and started walking away. Zetsu released her breath—too prematurely.

That same second, the light filtering in through the keyhole was obstructed and when the girl squinted at it, she found an eye staring through it and at her.

"Hello, poppet." Said the firefly, and Zetsu screamed.

…

When the impact never came, Chiyo slowly opened her eyes and discovered the poison-laced barb suspended inches from her face. The attack had been prevented from hitting her and when she glanced up, she found her saviour to be a gigantic, black creature with a demonic mask staring at her. The smoke finally dispersed and Kakuzu glimpsed over his shoulder to find he had summoned Rājan in time as it had tangled its threaded body in the joints of the tail, immobilizing it. He should've left the old woman to her fate but cursed the last remnants of his conscious.

Hiruko saw Rājan and a glorious epiphany struck him, making him chuckle. "O', 'ow _interestin'._ " He tried to retract his tail but Rājan stood steadfast, rumbling in response to the fruitless attempts at freedom.

"Give up, Rājan has you captured." Kakuzu interrupted, stepping forward and crossing his arms. "Surrender, and I'll return you in Sunagakure in one piece."

The puppeteer laughed. "O', ya t'ink me done, do ya? You're underestimatin' me, boy. I still got tricks up my sleeve." He then yanked his tail again and this time, the joints disconnected in the middle, bisecting it and revealing a chain-like weapon hidden inside. It snapped together into an alloy shiv.

He whipped the shortened appendage around and thrusted the blade at the dark-skinned male who blocked it with his Doton. Rājan reacted to aggression directed towards its host and dropped the dismembered extension to protect him. Hiruko smirked at this little mistake and Chiyo realized it.

"No, it was a trick! Grab the tail!" However, it was too late as the discarded spade quivered in the sand then launched through the air before either Kakuzu or Rājan could react. Hiruko lifted his stump and the soaring tail end linked neatly up with it, the joint spinning to lock the two pieces back together. Like a cat, he coiled newly reformed attachment around himself.

"Perfect, _perfect._ This lil' spar 'as benefi'ed me more than I though' I' would. 'owever, this distraction is over wit'."

"Distraction?" Kakuzu asked, not understanding what that meant.

Once that escaped his mouth, Chiyo noticed movement originating near the farmhouse and gasped. Kakuzu directed his attention towards what had startled her so and felt his stomach drop. It was Zetsu. She wasn't inside like he told her but rather she was lying in the sand outside the side like she had fallen through the wall, looking startled and frightened of something as she scuttled backwards through the damp sand and away from the house. She fought to her feet and without paying attention in which direction, starting run while staring over her shoulder as though something was chasing her. Unfortunately, she was running directly towards Kakuzu—and Hiruko.

Unfurling itself, the scorpion tail arched towards the fleeing girl and both Chiyo and Kakuzu ran at Hiruko realizing his intentions. Rājan gunned his arms at the tail, bellowing and cackling with static. Those few meters felt like forever.

"Zetsu!"

"Hiruko, no!" However, it was too late.

Rājan's hoofed hands missed it by inches as it evaded them and sped towards the teenager. Zetsu guided her gaze from behind her upon hearing a high-pitched whistling and saw the spade barreling towards her. She tried to stop herself, but her shoes slid through the mud and sent her careening directly at it. The stringer punched through her ribcage, the hollow impact backdropped by a thunderclap and flash of lightning. Blood and shattered bone sprayed and the collision sent her petite build summersaulting through the air. She landed on the wet ground and rolled before resting face down in the mud, blood rivering from her punctured abdomen.

Chiyo gasped in horror, hands automatically drawing to her mouth. Kakuzu snarled and cocked back his arm to punch Hiruko in his ugly face with Rājan howling behind him, an arch of electricity surging between its flared shoulders. "You bastard!"

"No, no, no. I wouldn' suggest doin' tha'. 'less ya wan' me tearin' yer pup apar' limb by limb." Hiruko dissuaded, keeping his tail poised over Zetsu's motionless body with the pincer pointed at the back of her tattooed neck, blood and rainwater streaming off it. Kakuzu stopped himself with Rājan skidding to a halt behind him.

"You cowardly bastard," Kakuzu seethed, his knuckles cracking as he balled his fists. "Hiding behind a child to save yourself."

"I ain't hidin'. I'mma opportunist."

"Opportunist my ass!"

"Hmph. Believe wha' ya want. It ain't goin' ta help 'er. In fac', the longer we talk, the longer my poison will circulate through her veins an' do mer damage to 'er organs—if the blood loss don' kill 'er firs'."

"He's right," Chiyo begrudgingly admitted through her gritted teeth, hating having to agree with this monster on anything. "If we do not get her immediate medical attention, she'll die." She casted her distraught gaze to Zetsu, who had started convulsing, a symptom of the poison infecting her.

"Then what do you suggest we do!?" Kakuzu screamed at Chiyo. He wasn't mad because Zetsu had been injured, he was mad because Zetsu had been injured and therefore that threatened his employment with the Akatsuki. _'Little shit keeps getting herself in situations!'_

"Simple. Ya lemme leave." Hiruko answered instead. "Lemme leave, an' yer pup should survive."

"The fuck I will!" Kakuzu automatically said. His bullheaded pride refused to just let a target waltz away. It was like watching money walk.

"She'll die!" Chiyo marched up to Kakuzu and snatched his elbow, making his head swivel around to glower at the intrusive hand. Rājan loomed over the grandmother, rumbling menacingly with its stringy body standing up with static. She wasn't intimidated by the display though and stared intently at Kakuzu, her wrinkled lips drawn into a frown and eyebrows knitted together. "That child will die if we don't do something. We can find Hiruko later. He won't escape for long." Fuck, she was right. Zetsu would die and then he'd have a larger issue than missing out on one assassination, namely, finding a new job.

So, after a tense minute, Kakuzu gave up. "Fine." Chiyo released the breath she had been holding and eased her grip on him, tranquilizing Rājan in the process.

"Brilliant." Hiruko chirped, head bobbing bizarrely up and down with his snickering. "An' do not fret. Ya an' I will be meetin' 'gain real' soon. I promise ya tha'." Like promised, his tail retreated from its ominous position over the little girl and idly rested on its owner's back.

As a precaution, Chiyo kept her hand on Kakuzu to hold him back, feeling his muscles straining as the two involuntarily watched as Hiruko started leaving. The mass murderer shambled away without a second glance, past the farmhouse and leaving behind the carnage he was responsible for. It wasn't until he was a distant speck in the horizon did Chiyo release Kakuzu and the two rushed to Zetsu's aid.

Both adults landed of their knees beside her and delicately turned her over. She was tremoring, lips quivering as her mouth opened and closed like a suffocating fish and her eyes were wide but unseeing. She was in shock, either from the poison or the blood loss. Kakuzu hiked up her blood soaked shirt and cringed when her left side had been demolished into a debris of tattered flesh and extruding rib bone.

"You little shit, I instructed you to stay inside!"

"We have to stop the bleeding," Chiyo said, voicing the obvious. She reached underneath her robes to fetch the first-aid kit from her pouch.

"I've got it." He said, making her pause and lift an eyebrow to her hairline.

He poised his hand over Zetsu and threading sprouted from his bandaged wrist. Thankfully, the wound, while gruesome, was shallow and hadn't been as bad as when she had bisected herself. He was able to find undamaged skin and after pushing the broken bone inside, his thread sewed the two sides of the laceration shut. It took forty stitches to close it. Chiyo observed, tightlipped and uncertain of this odd ability but put away her bandages anyway, seeing as they were not required.

He lifted Zetsu into his arms and straightened up, turning towards Rājan behind him. "Rājan, return." The lightning mask grumbled in acknowledgement of the order. Its black anatomy collapsed as the threads and mask wedged itself underneath his tunic and returned onto his back. Again, Chiyo decided not to ask. It had been an emotional day for her.

"Daora." More threading sprung out from his collar and his wind mask wriggled out with it, puddling onto the ground and writhing as it gradually arranged itself into the quadruped. Once Daora had assembled itself, it stretched itself like a cat, yawning its beak and flexing its wings then plopped itself in front of him, greeting him with a screeching caw. "Daora. Zetsu has been injured, she needs to be flown to Sunagakure, now."

Daora cooed in understandment and positioned itself on its clawed feet. He rested Zetsu's semi-conscious on Daora's back and a current of strings coiled themselves around her, creating a makeshift swaddle so she didn't fall off. Then, the bird-like hopped away and lifted off, flapping its skeletal wings until it achieved acceptable height above the dark clouds and glided in the direction of Sunagakure. Kakuzu turned towards Chiyo, who looked like she had sucked on a lemon with her lips pursued so tight and simultaneously seen a ghost.

"Daora's flight is faster than if we carried the girl on foot. She should be in the hospital by the time we get there." He felt obliged to explain, swiping his damp hair from his face and the moisture from his sunglasses.

Chiyo didn't trust him nor did like him, but she trusted him this once that the poor child was being flown back to Sunagakure, not for his sake but her own. "Alright, we should leave." She nodded. "Once we get there, they should have the test results on the poison Hiruko used on her and I can make an antidote." That said, the two elders got to their feet and started running back to the capital, the thunderstorm overhead starting to disperse.

Meanwhile, a figure viewed them leave through the blinds of a window, and smirked. "Yes, I'll be seeing you both soon, _my newest puppets._ "

…

Something wasn't right, Kakuzu realized once Sunagakure was view. He slowed his pace to a walk and Chiyo mimicked him though was confused for his sudden slowdown when the gates were around the canyon walls.

"Something amatter?" She asked.

He narrowed his gaze towards atop the village's rocky walls and caught a glimpse of someone hiding on them. They were being watched. "Yes. I don't remember Suna having such tight security. Thought all your shinobi died in on the battlefield?"

Hearing this, she casted her own curious gaze up and saw a shadow disappearing on the wall they were walking underneath. It was suspicious. Normally, only two people were assigned to patrol a certain amount of the wall at a time. Yet, she swore she had seen four silhouettes up there. She had heard nothing from the latest council meeting about them upping security when they managed to diverge war hungry nations away from Sunagakure itself. Something was up, and she imagined Rasa was behind it.

"Counsellor Chiyo!" Someone yelled, and she pinpointed her sight on someone running towards them. It was Geil.

Geil halted several feet in front of the and Kakuzu automatically stopped also, glaring at him for cutting him off. However, the bald assistant seemed more interested in Chiyo and spared him a passing glowered of his own. "Counsellor Chiyo, where have you been!? Why are you with this Akatsuki man?"

"She stalked me when I went after Hiruko." Kakuzu deadpanned.

Geil gasped. "Hiruko!? The Lord Kazekage gave you explicit orders that you were not involved in this manner!"

"Oh please, like I'd ever listen to that boy." Chiyo dismissed, tossing her head and propping her hands on her hips in a discourteous display.

Geil gaped at her then realized something and stared at Kakuzu instead. "Hiruko, were you able to find him? You never returned with the Ariyama's so we were prepared to send a search party." He said, likely referencing the reason why there were so many shinobi skulking around on the border walls. He must've realized Kakuzu and Chiyo had seen them. Kakuzu didn't buy it.

"Thought you said you couldn't spare anyone else to deal with this yourself," He muttered, calling out the bullshit pouring out of the other man's mouth, and crossed his arms. Geil's scarred face darkened and he sneered. "The Ariyama's were dead once I arrived. Hiruko had killed them already and was on scene. We did our best to repel him, but my subordinate got injured in the process."

"A little girl, has she been admitted to the hospital?" Chiyo interrupted them.

"I-I…If you're asking of the girl which was dropped in front of the Suna hospital by a bizarre creature that then flew away then yes she was." Geil admitted. Kakuzu nodded, so Daora achieved its task, though not as stealthily as he would've liked.

"Oh, thank the lord." She sighed, clapping her hands together in prayer then dropped them and started marching past Geil. "I have to get to the hospital and analyze her."

"W-Wait, Counsellor Chiyo!" Geil stuttered, stumbling out of the way as the little old lady practically trampled over him. "The Lord Kazekage will want to speak to you for your insubordinate behaviour!"

"Tell Rasa to bugger off because I have a child to save!" She screamed back and kept going.

Geil didn't attempt to stop her and focused his squinted gaze back to Kakuzu who had been patiently waiting for the conversation to return to him. " _You—_ the Lord Kazekage will wish to speak with you about your failure to capture Hiruko." He said, speaking like a teacher sending a student to the principle.

Kakuzu shrugged. "Gladly." Then willingly trailed Geil back to the Kazekage's Office.


	23. Arc 2: Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu is hospitalized, Hiruko is gone, and a horrible discovery by Chiyo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Med), Blood (Low), Genderbend, OC

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 22**

By the time Chiyo had reached Suna hospital, Zetsu had been checked in and had her blood tests done so the grandmother was handed the test results upon entering. Like thought, the doctors had never seen such a poison cocktail and could do little more than give the girl pain killers to relieve her pain. She thanked them and took the paperwork back to her greenhouse so she may fetch the appropriate plants to create an antidote. Sometimes, good old herbal remedies could do what modern medicine could not.

The poison itself was a traditional heavy metal poison, used to gradually kill victims by making them ill and shutting down organs. If a cure wasn't administered, patients would die in three days. However, every poison made was specially created to make it as hard as possible for an antidote to be produced with each creator adding their own variation to it. Chiyo liked risen, Sasori added scorpion poison and Hiruko used mookshood. She knew the counter to monkshood, so all she needed to do was identify the rest of chemicals found in Zetsu's blood.

She retrieved her mortar and pestle and started walking around her greenhouse, plucking the correct herbs for each component. Mercury, check. Arsenic, check. Scorpion toxins—wait. No, that couldn't be right. Hiruko never used scorpion neurotoxin. These levels indicted the toxins were acquired from the _Centruroides sculpturatus._ That had been… She checked the list again and as she did, she realized that _Aconitum,_ also known as monkshood, was not included. No, no, no, this couldn't be correct. Why would _Centruroides sculpturatus'_ venom be here but not _Aconitum_? That was…that was Sasori's trademark ingredient. He loved how _Centruroides sculpturatus,_ orbark scorpion's venom, caused severe pain and also paralysis. There had to be a mistake.

She thumbed through the paperwork to a handwritten observation made by the doctor regarding Zetsu's symptoms. Neuromuscular agitation, opsoclonus, hypersalivation, fever and severe pain. Those all matched the side-effects of _Centruroides sculpturatus'_ venom. Why would be Hiruko be using Sasori's poisons? He had been religious about creating and using his own poisons and considered using other poisons blasphemous. This revelation changed everything and Chiyo didn't know what to believe. Sasori…he couldn't be involved, could he? She banished the traitorous thought, but it did little to ease the aching in her heart as the possibility her cherish grandson might be behind this also. No, he couldn't be, Hiruko had probably stolen his poison or something like that. There were a million explanations, but no time hypnotize on them all. If she didn't administer an antidote soon, Zetsu would be dead in days and she couldn't live with such blood on her hands.

So, she swallowed down the negative emotions brewing in her stomach and gathered the remainder of her ingredients to start on the anti-poison.

…

"So, the Ariyama's are dead, you failed to arrest Hiruko and your subordinate was injured?" The Fourth Kazekage questioned, summarizing everything Kakuzu had spent the last half-an-hour explaining to him.

Kakuzu shrugged nonchalantly, arms crossed. "Basically."

Rasa sighed, gradually leaning back in his chair to purposely make it squeal and folded his hands against his abdomen. "So, _basically_ , because of you, Hiruko is free to continue murdering my citizens."

" _Basically_ , your calculations were incorrect on Hiruko's arrival to the Ariyama Ranch, which resulted in their murder, and if it weren't for that Chiyo Lady's interference, I would have been successful in detaining Hiruko myself." Kakuzu grunted.

Upon mention of Chiyo, Geil stepped in. "Lord Kazekage, I can explain—" Rasa lifted a hand, silently telling his assistant to save his explanation, and the bald man slinked back into the corner of the office with his head hung, like a punished child standing in timeout.

"I apologize for that. Counsellor Chiyo somehow bypassed the security set up to prevent her interference in this investigation." Rasa narrowed his penetrative gaze at Geil who huddled deeper in the corner. "However, responsibility cannot be pinned on her entirely. A lot of it can be direct towards your severe lack of combative capabilities."

"'Severe lack of combative capabilities?'" Kakuzu parroted and barked with genuine laughter. It took everything inside him not to educate this snot-nosed brat playing Kazekage with the fact he had more years of shinobi experience than he had lived on this green earth. However, he ultimately decided it wasn't worth the breath explaining himself. "Listen here—"

"No, you listen here," Rasa interrupted, straightening up. "Your subpar service is no longer required nor wanted. You are relieved of your duties."

"Excuse me? Are you firing me?" Kakuzu asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes I am. The Akatsuki's contract has been terminated starting now. Please leave my office."

Kakuzu stood abruptly from his chair, causing it to tumble over with a crash. Geil reacted instantly, perceiving the action as threatening to the Kazekage, and was on the behemoth-sized male in a second with his scimitar drawn to his neck. Kakuzu didn't flinch nor made further motions, instead a deep growl rumbled in his throat and his lips quirked back into a scowl. Rasa stared him down, unintimidated. Finally, after a fierce stare down, Kakuzu turned his head away and Rasa gestured for Geil to lower his weapon, taking that as his victory.

"Now, please leave my office. Otherwise, I will have you escorted off the premises by force."

Begrudgingly, Kakuzu obliged. He'd rather not commit a war crime today by attacking a nation leader over a paycheck, as tantalizing that paycheck was, and took his leave. Geil politely opened the doors for him, then proceeded to hit him in the backside as he left, adding salt to the wound.

"Geil." Rasa said, once their guest was gone.

Geil cringed, realizing he wasn't out of the woods for his failures yet and prepared himself for the incoming tongue-lashing. "Yes, Lord Kazekage?"

"Where is Counsellor Chiyo?"

"Oh…she's attending to the girl that Hiruko injured."

"Please bring her here so I may speak to her."

"Wouldn't it be better to bring her in after she had finished attending to the child?" Geil petitioned, not wishing to bring further harm to the girl by postponing the medical care that only Chiyo was capable of giving her.

"Now, Geil!" Rasa barked, leaving no room for further argument and Geil was out the door without having to be told twice.

…

After his unceremonious termination, Kakuzu went to the hospital. While walking there, he whistled to locate Daora. It had been hiding atop a building beside the hospital and chirped back once he was nearby, poking its head over the edge to check if everything was clear before fluttering down and returning to its host. Kakuzu then entered the Suna Hospital to check on Zetsu.

Once he requested her, lying to be her legal guardian in the process—which he might as well be now—he was immediately besieged by doctors with questions and paperwork. Apparently, until Chiyo returned with an antidote, all they could do was administer pain medication and experimental treatments to attempt and slow down the poison but since she was a minor, they required authorization from her parent or guardian, which was Kakuzu. So, after a half-an-hour of filling out and writing his signature on a least two dozen different forms, he was permitted to see Zetsu.

She wasn't in the best condition. According to one doctor, she had a high fever and was experiencing intense pain and convulsions. As Kakuzu entered her room, he witnessed this firsthand as she huddled in the fetal position in her bed, twitching with seismic muscle spasms and whimpering with each unnatural jerking. Her naturally pale face was paler and drenched in sweat with her canines locked together in permanent cringing. She didn't notice him as he walked in, her eyelids screwed shut as stabbing after stabbing of pain plagued her. Kakuzu would've felt the littlest bit bad for her, if he wasn't so mad at her. Afterall, it was her own fault this had happened to her. If she had stayed inside like instructed, she wouldn't have been hurt. He didn't understand the reason she had been outside and obviously, he wouldn't be getting an answer out of her at this current moment. So, he seated himself in a chair beside the bed and observed her pathetic withering and the nurses rushing in and out to deliver pain killers and other medication to tranquilize her. Nothing appeared to be helping however as she remained the same, maybe even steadily worsening.

Thankfully, her suffering didn't last too long, as a few hours later, Chiyo arrived. The grandmother made her entrance without warning or announcement, like a superhero breaking through a wall, with the antidote clenched in her wrinkled hand. A doctor and nurse were behind her but also a defeated looking Geil hiding in the background. There was no greeting or acknowledge of Kakuzu as she focused her full attention on Zetsu instead. She frowned upon seeing the teenager's visible affliction and quickly gestured over the nurse who handed her a syringe for the anti-poison. Without hesitation, she injected it into Zetsu's IV line.

"There, there, sweetie, this should make you feel better." She whispered to the semiconscious teenager and rested a hand against her damp forehead. Like magic, Zetsu's facial expression softened and her petite body was freed of convulsions, going dead still. The doctor and nurse applauded her and Kakuzu sighed, relieved he wouldn't have to listen to anymore of her whining or sign another piece of paperwork. Otherwise, he might've killed someone. "She'll be fine now. It'll take her body awhile to circulate the antidote, so her fever will remain be high, but that is because she'll be sweating out the poison," Chiyo addressed the medical staff, but speaking so Kakuzu could hear also. "So, keep her on liquids and pain medications. She should be recovered by the morning."

Chiyo handed the nurse a second veil of antidote, telling her to give it to her patient later to help with treatment. The doctor informed Kakuzu that if she was given the green light by morning, they could perform surgery in the afternoon to repair her broken ribs. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, because surgery meant more paperwork and bitching. He shouldn't have spoken so soon. While Zetsu's vitals were checked, Chiyo approached Kakuzu with Geil slithering in the room.

"Your dau—subordinate will survive. There shouldn't be any lasting damage since she received the antidote so soon." She guaranteed Kakuzu, smiling. Though, he hadn't been concerned since as long as Zetsu was alive, he couldn't care less the status of her.

"Counsellor Chiyo," Geil muttered, stepping behind the older woman and resting an apprehensive hand on her shoulder. "As per our agreement, I permitted you to heal the girl, now please, the Kazekage has requested your presence."

"Oh, hush up, Geil. I heard you the first dozen times!" Chiyo bit like a viper and the bald male backpedaled, holding his hands up in defense. She sighed and returned her gaze back to Kakuzu who didn't appear fazed, sitting with his muscled arms crossed and his facial appearance invisible behind his sunglasses and bandana. Obviously, she was concerned more for the girl's wellbeing then her own custodian did. "She should wake up soon. Tell her I said hello, aye?" Kakuzu grunted his recognition at her request and with that, Chiyo shuffled out the room with Geil timidly trailing her.

The evaluation was finished and once she was made more comfortable, the doctor and nurse took their exit also, leaving Kakuzu alone in the room with his subordinate. He sat by, watching her while he patiently and simultaneously impatiently waited for her to wake up so may have a word with her. He didn't have to wait long for that either, because by hour's end, she was starting to stir.

Zetsu's golden orbs fluttered open and her disorientated gaze flickered around the children's hospital room, eyeing the vibrant colours and animal stencils as her hazy brain tried to pinpoint her location. She lifted her head from the pillow and the cold pack resting on her forehead fell off onto her chest, startling her as she flinched then winced when a pain twinged in her side. Her gaze lowered to herself and she discovered she was laying in a bed, a hospital bed as she easily recognized it from past visits. She attempted to sit herself up, but the pain in her side was too intense, and she could do little more than arch her back before the pain flattened her out again. Finally, she glanced up and saw Kakuzu seated beside the bed and uttered a breathless noise. "Sir."

Kakuzu acknowledged her with a grunt. "Girl." He then leant forward in his chair and extended his hand towards her. She saw the hit incoming and prepared herself. Her suspicion was correct as he brought his fist atop her head in a solid hit, not hard enough to do damage but it hurt regardless.

"Owie!" She yelped, cradling the spot that had been thunked and stared at him in confusion. "Why? Not bad!"

"Why? You ignored me when I ordered you to stay inside the house and not leave it!" He barked, pointing at her.

"No, not leave!" She defended herself, adamantly.

"Then how the hell did you get outside?"

Outside? She blinked, then, everything came rushing back to her and she gasped. "Firefly!"

Oh boy, here we go. If he didn't have a headache before, he was going to get one now, he thought as he pressed his fingertips against his temple in preparation. "Firefly?"

"Yes! Firefly there!"

"Where?"

"Home!" She claimed, gestured her hands in the ambiguous shape of a house.

Impossible, Hiruko couldn't have been inside the house, he never left the battlefield. At least, Kakuzu was positive he hadn't. There had to be an explanation why Zetsu thought he had been inside the house. _'Hiruko is a puppeteer, he could've planted a puppet inside. That would explain why Zetsu thought it was him because she would be sensing the chakra linked to the puppet instead.'_ He thought, rubbing his chin in , that made perfect sense to him. "Was it a puppet?"

She didn't know what a puppet was but shook her head anyway. "No. It be firefly!"

"Did you see it?"

She frowned. "Mmm, no. Dark." Ah, so she hadn't seen it, so she couldn't confirm it was Hiruko, not that he believed that. He couldn't imagine someone of Hiruko's size fitting inside a house anyway. Must've have been a puppet. "Not see. Hear." Zetsu tacked on.

"Heard?"

"Yes, firefly talkeded."

Last he checked, puppets couldn't speak. There was ventriloquism, but he doubted Hiruko could have thrown his voice so far. " _Spoke."_ He corrected her. "What did it say?"

She hummed while she tried to rewind her memories back to what the firefly had said to her. "Firefly say 'hello'. Hello then say funny."

"It said 'hello' then something funny?" Kakuzu repeated so he got it right, kicking himself for sounding as idiotic as her.

"Yes." She confirmed, nodding.

If this firefly spoke, then it couldn't have been a puppet and that theory had been blown out the water. If it wasn't a puppet, then, was is possible it was another person? Was a second party involved? No, Zetsu claimed it was Hiruko, that it was his "firefly", so his chakra signature. There could be a mistake since she had just started discovering her sensitivity. That could be it, but that didn't explain why there could be another person. _'Maybe…maybe it had been either Akasuna-no-Sasori or the Third Kazekage? Had Hiruko kept them alive?'_ He couldn't ask Zetsu that, since he hadn't seen this person. "Did this firefly say anything else? Or do something?" He asked instead.

"Not say. Scary. I fell."

That clusterfuck of a sentence was a chore to decipher but Kakuzu thought he had it figured. "It said nothing, but scared you and you fell?"

"Yes. Fall outside."

"You fell outside? From where?"

"Inside." She said, definitely not realizing the weight of her own words as Kakuzu was taken aback. It was amazing how she could say so little, yet so much as the same time.

Had she implied using the Mayfly? He might be thinking too much into this, but the how the hell else did you explain her "falling" from inside to outside? He didn't believe her smart enough to make something like that up. It also painted a better picture as he recalled when he and Chiyo had spied her before Hiruko attacked her and she had been scrambling away from the house like something was chasing her. She could've used the Mayfly to escape whoever or whatever was inside it.

He had so many questions, regarding this mysterious second person and the Mayfly, however, Zetsu wouldn't be answering them anytime soon as she yawned, and her eyelids started sinking. It must be all those drugs being pumped into her.

"Go to sleep, girl. When you wake up though, we have a lot more to speak about." He told her, standing up from the chair and repositioning the cold pack back on her forehead.

"Yes, sir." The teenager muttered and seconds after shutting her eyes, she dozed off.

…

"Lord Kazekage, Counsellor Chiyo is here like requested." Geil proclaimed, kneeling and bowing his head upon entering the Kazekage's Office.

"Finally." The Kazekage mumbled, sitting up straight in his chair and gesturing permission for his assistant to welcome her inside. Geil beckoned in Chiyo then barely managed to save himself from being trampled as the elder stampeded into the office like a raging bull, noses flaring included. "Hello, Counsellor Chiyo."

"Save your pleasantries, Rasa." Chiyo barked, situating herself directly in front of Rasa's desk and angrily staring down the boyish man with her hands planted on her hips. "I came so Geil would stop stalking me. Now, get your earbashing over with so I can go on with the little remainder of my life!"

"Happily," Rasa said, then slammed his hands onto his desk and lifted himself up in a dramatic presentation. "You explicitly ignored me when I said you would have no involvement in this investigation whatsoever! Your interference may have contributed to Hiruko's escape!"

"Oh please, everything that happened had nothing to do with my contribution. It was that Akatsuki you brought in. If it weren't for me, that Akatsuki Boy would've been dead within five minutes against Hiruko. Saved his arse, I did. This is your doing for hiring mercenaries cheaper than piss."

"What if Hiruko had injured or killed you? Then what of the Puppet Brigade? Our last battalion could have been left without authority and risked Sunagakure as a result!

"You're such a broken record, Rasa. You've whinged at me about this yesterday! Also, stop underestimating my abilities, boy. I fought in the Second World War against both the Sannin and Hanzō! Hiruko is nothing in comparison to them. I could've handled him myself if that Akatsuki Boy wasn't in my way. If you hadn't put me on a blacklist, I could've arrested Hiruko and returned the Third and Sasori by now!"

"I am not underestimating your abilities, Counsellor Chiyo. You are the one underestimating Hiruko and the Hitokugutsu. If not, then Hiruko would not have escaped and the Third Kazekage and your grandson would have been rescued, with or without the Akatsuki involved, correct?" Chiyo scowled, and that was all the evidence Rasa required to claim his victory in this little debate of theirs. "Now, I will say this once again—you have no involvement in this investigation nor will have involvement in this investigation. Once Hiruko has been captured and the Third Kazekage and Akasuna-no-Sasori recovered, you shall be notified." With that, the Fourth Kazekage reclaimed his seat, signifying this specific conversation was over.

"This isn't over, Rasa," She swore, hunching over the desk and pointing a face directly into his face. Geil was left conflicted if this could be considered assault but also if it would be wise to scorn an Elder so he remained where he was and pretended not to notice. "I'll say this once again also—I'll find Sasori, with or without your help." She straightened up and turned on her heel to leave. Geil hustled and opened the doors for her, bowing respectfully to the Elder as she exited.

"Hmm, she made no mention of it." Rasa muttered, resting his hand underneath his chin.

"Mention of what, Lord Kazekage?" Geil asked, returning to his post beside the Kazekage.

"That _Centruroides sculpturatus_ venom was found in that girl's blood tests, the one Hiruko attacked."

" _Centruroides sculpturatus_?"

"Bark scorpion. It wasn't just hers, but it has been found in the blood results of Hiruko's victims that have had autopsies done thus far."

"I apologize but I am not following."

" _Centruroides sculpturatus_ venom isn't Hiruko's trademark. However, it is Akasuna-no-Sasori's." The Kazekage stepped his chair back to retrieve booze from the hideaway. "Hiruko never used poison beside his own and made that fact well known. So why is it now he is using Sasori's poison instead?"

"I wouldn't know, sir." Geil admitted, turning down the offer of a glass. "Are you suggesting that is because Sasori is involved?"

"Hmm, suggesting, yes. But there is no further evidence besides that, so I am left to nothing by my theories. I wouldn't be surprised, however. Sasori was never a trustworthy person. A percentage of Sunagakure's casualties were that of his own men. I'm convinced he purposely had them killed for a sick kick. Never understood why the Third was so unquestioning of his actions. Always left a bad taste in my mouth." Rasa said, then swallowed a shot of hard liquid to wash away said bad taste.

"If Sasori may be involved and Counsellor Chiyo is aware of this, why didn't you confront her when she said nothing of it? Such silence could be considered treacherous if proven true."

"Because, if she becomes wise to fact that I suspect her dear grandson might be involved with Hiruko and the Third Kazekage's disappearance, she might become desperate to protect him—and the last thing we need is her desperate."

"Then what shall be done?"

"For now? Nothing," Rasa answered, taking another shot then putting away the alcohol. "We cannot do anything else until Hiruko is captured. Once he is, we can confirm if he has been working alone or if Akasuna-no-Sasori has been assisting him. Until then, I want Counsellor Chiyo to be under twenty-four/seven surveillance. If she attempts anything which can be considered suspicious, she is to be arrested under suspicion."

Geil clicked his teeth together into a frown, eyebrows crinkled at thought of the possibility. "Would it be wise to arrest an Elder, Lord Kazekage?"

"No, it wouldn't be. However, I cannot risk have her meddling into these affairs any longer or aiding her grandson if my theory is confirmed. That'll be your duty, Geil."

"Yes, sir."

"And Geil," Rasa said, narrowing his dagger-like gaze at his old teammate. "Do not fail me again. Otherwise, I might be inclined to find a new assistant. Is this understood?"

Geil swallowed thickly and curtly nodded. "Yes, Lord Kazekage."

…

Kakuzu remained in the hospital as a precaution in case the antidote failed or became unstable, and she required emergency treatment. It hadn't yet and the worse side effect she was experiencing was making her sleep like the dead. During this, Chiyo visited to personally check her condition. She attempted little talk with Kakuzu, comparing Zetsu with her grandson, Sasori, in terms of their age and told him if the two met, she imagined them becoming friends. He didn't indulge in her chitchat which she apparently didn't catch onto her as she then proceeded to ramble on about how wonderful her grandson was, being a natural born prodigy and such. That had to be the second time ever Kakuzu came close to punching an old person.

Mercifully, he was put out of his misery when a nurse entered and after educating her on when to give Zetsu the second antidote, Chiyo left. Kakuzu decided to leave afterwards, as visiting hours were ending, but also because he was hungry, and his backside hurt from sitting in a shitty chair all day. The doctor caught him on his way out, asking him to return in the morning so he could sign off on Zetsu's surgery if she was approved for it. Sure, he had nothing better to do since he was unceremoniously fired, but he sufficed. So, he agreed. After which, he was free to leave the hospital back to the hotel.

If he had known what was upcoming though, he may have insisted on staying instead. Would've saved him a lot of hell for the next twenty years.

…

The next morning, Kakuzu returned to the hospital. When he arrived in the children's wing, Chiyo was present, chatting with Zetsu's doctor. She noticed Kakuzu and gifted him a disarming smile that briefly made him forget the hellion this grandmother was.

"Morning, Akatsuki Boy," She greeted him, with the doctor behind her parroting it to him also. "Or was it Akatsuki? Either or."

"Whatever," Kakuzu grunted, then ignored her as he cast his attention onto the doctor. "How is the girl? Has the surgery been approved?"

The doctor opened his mouth to answer, but Chiyo interrupted him. "She's doing wonderful. She slept thought the night and her fever broke. The antidote has worked exceptionally. That, or she is a fast healer. Anyway, she'll be having the procedure this morning. There should be little to no poison left to interfere with the anesthesia." The doctor quietly nodded, confirming everything she had said. Kakuzu sighed, just relieved to hear that Zetsu would be getting patched up so they could get the hell out of here. "I've had the nurse go give her the second dose now. Would you li—" However, she couldn't finish that question when a scream echoed through the ward.

Everyone froze from the bloodcurdling sound and the parents shielded their children's ears. Kakuzu and Chiyo's heads whipped in the direction of it and felt their stomach simultaneously sour at the realization where it had originated from. It was in the direction of Zetsu's room. It amazed Kakuzu how fast the old woman could run as she sprinted ahead of him. Other doctors and nurses were rushing around, trying to find where the noise came from and who had caused it. Chiyo reached Zetsu's room first but when she tried to open the door, she couldn't.

"The door is locked." She gasped, fruitlessly jiggling the doorknob.

Kakuzu and the doctor were right behind her and upon hearing the door had been locked, the medic twisted himself to confirm it. He offered to get maintenance to open it, but that would take far too long and Kakuzu had a better idea. After shooing Chiyo and the quack aside, he delivered a solid kick against the door and sent it crashing open.

All three entered the room, and there were gasps from Chiyo and the doctor. The nurse, assigned to Zetsu's care, as crumpled on the ground and convulsing. Her white uniform was painted red with blood and a kunai stabbed into her lower back. The anti-poison veil was broken beside her. She must've been ambushed upon entering to give Zetsu her second dosage. Both dropped to their knees beside the woman to check her vitals, while Kakuzu didn't give a shit and was more interested in something else. When he looked towards the bed, he felt all five of his hearts seize. It was empty. Zetsu was missing.

He stepped around the crime scene developing and searched around the room: in the bathroom, under the bed, in the corners, anywhere Zetsu may be hiding. However, she was nowhere to be found when he noticed something else. The window was open, the paper-thin curtains being sucked outside by a breeze. She hadn't gone missing, she had been kidnapped— _again._

"Son of a—" He muttered, when something else caught his eye. A piece of paper folded in half, lying on her pillow. It was too small to be discarded medical report. He picked it up and opened it. Inside, a message had been written in a clean cursive.

_I've got your pup. If you want her back alive, come to the Bloodlands and defeat me for her. Come alone or I will kill her._

_Love, Hiruko._

"Where are the Bloodlands?" Kakuzu asked suddenly, once he finished reading it.

"The Bloodlands?" Chiyo asked, looking up from the nurse and narrowing her squinted eyes at him. "How do you know of the Bloodlands?"

"Because Hiruko has the girl," He answered, revealing the note which had been crushed in his fist.

"Hiruko? How did he—?"

"I don't know, I don't care! Just tell me where the fucking Bloodlands are so I can get her back before he kills her!"

"It's…It's a micronation to the northwest of Sunagakure." She glanced down at the woman, who was displaying the symptoms of poisoning. However, with the antidote gone, she would have to make a new batch. Otherwise, she may die. "I'll take you there once I take care of her."

"There's no time," Kakuzu grumbled, walking towards the agape window and grabbing Zetsu's backpack to leave immediately.

"Wait!" Chiyo cried. Kakuzu sighed but waited as requested. She scurried to him and after rustling around in her poncho, she withdrew something and held up it in his face, making him flinch back. It was a picture of a redheaded boy, dressed his Sunagakure armour with his chocolate orbs boring through the photograph in a bored yet ominous gaze. "This is my grandson, Sasori. Please, bring him back, dead or alive, I do not care! I just want him back. Please."

He gave the crinkled picture another lookover to memorize the teenager's face then turned away. "I make no promises." With that, he launched himself out of the window to land on the rooftop beside the hospital and started running northwest, towards these mysterious Bloodlands.

Leaving Chiyo to stay back to tend to the nurse and pray for the wellbeing of not just her grandson, but also this Akatsuki man and his subordinate. If Sasori was involved, they would need it.


	24. Arc 2: Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu has a final showdown with Hiruko. However, not everything is as it appears, and everything reaches an unpredictable climax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: A character warning is included because there will be the introduction of a main character whose canon has been changed for this fiction. It isn't I do not know how to write him; it's just I'm writing him in my own vision for Wasteland. Also, additional warning. Sasori has an accent and so will a few other Akatsuki members. No, it will not be used as a stereotype (except one character but that is because his backstory, or lack thereof, was written out for Wasteland) or a caricature. They'll be used to differentiate the characters from each other and because of their personalities or to illustrate the nations they originate from (Sasori is from Suna which is an Arid Nation, therefore he has the speech pattern of someone from one of those countries.) I am including this warning now, so I do not have to later. Again, if you do not like this, do not leave a hateful comment because this choice was made for this story which is AU, if you cannot tell by now.
> 
> Warning(s): Blood/Gore/Violence (High), Cannibalism, Language (Med), Genderbend, OC

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 23**

When Zetsu groggily woke up, she wasn't tucked in the uncomfortable hospital bed or in her room anymore. Instead, she found herself facedown in dirt that smelt heavily of decay and iron. When she lifted her head, she realized the reason as the sand underneath her was stained red like old blood. She could taste the flavour of it in her mouth. Gasping, she attempted to weakly lift herself off it, but found that it hurt too much to move, but also, something heavy atop her had her pinned down.

"'ush up," Was barked at her when she started whimpering.

She tilted her head sideways to glance up at the person speaking and cried out when seeing the Firefly standing over her, staring down at her with its sunken bloodshot eyes. She hadn't been this near to the Firefly before and the red-hot chakra signature radiating off it was scalding against her skin and suffocating the breath in her lungs like a bad fever.

"'ush up!" Hiruko said again, pressing his hand harder into her back as she squirmed underneath him to escape his presence. "I ain't gonna 'urt ya. Not 'less yer pops fails to show up, er ya irritate meh! Yer getting' close ta one of 'em!"

Further pressure silenced her crying as she went dead still and returned to whimpering as she felt her broken ribs stabbing against her skin and threatening to puncture through. Satisfied, he returned to scanning the endless blood-stained wastes for his invited guest in the horizon.

…

Meanwhile, Kakuzu was running towards the general direction Chiyo had told him the Bloodlands would be located. He had launched Daora and the bird creature was flying overhead, using its aerial viewpoint to search for the whereabouts of Hiruko and Zetsu. Finally, after a few hours of lost drifting and closing in on the border between the Firelands and Wastelands, Daora cawed. It had found something.

It divebombed out of the sky and landed in front of Kakuzu. It relied its message to him through an interruptive dance which, to anyone else, would look nothing more than bouncing and squawking. However, Kakuzu understood all of it and patted the Daora on the head as an award for its contribution before withdrawing it. He then turned himself in the direction as indicated by the air elemental that it had spied their targets.

As he ran, he noticed the sand underneath his boots increasingly dying a gruesome rust and the air smelt putrefied of baking flesh and copper, burning the inside of his nostrils through his bandana and making it difficult to breathe as his lungs were strangled with the sketch of death. There were corpses buried in the sand, dressed in shinobi armours trademark to both Konoha and Suna, unidentifiable and unclaimed, left to rot in the sweltering sun; their shriveled faces gaping towards the heavens. He must be entering these so-called "Bloodlands" and could understand where they had received their name.

In the distance, amongst the emptiness, there was a figure, large and rotund. It was either a horrifically bloated body, or Hiruko. He confirmed it to be the latter upon closer inspection. Zetsu was nowhere to been seen, though. His pace slowed to a casual walk as he approached until eventually halting to a stop. There was a meter between himself and his "friend". Hiruko acknowledged his guest's presence by uplifting his head, the motion releasing the artificial noises of inorganic material grinding against each other.

"So, ya came, and alone like asked," Hiruko chuckled to himself. "Didn' make me wai' either. 'ow generous. I 'ate waitin'." He noticed the flamboyantly pink backpack slung over his shoulder and chuckled. "Nice bac'pac'."

"Where's Zetsu?" Kakuzu demanded, ignoring his "compliment" and throwing the bright bag aside.

"The girl? She's fine; she's righ' 'ere." Hiruko raised himself up, revealing Zetsu was smuggled underneath his hefty frame like a chick beneath a nesting hen.

Upon hearing Kakuzu's voice, Zetsu craned her neck and stared at him with glistening eyes. Bloodsoaked sand was glued to her wet cheeks. "Sir." She whimpered, lips trembling. She tried crawling towards him but Hiruko laid his weight back atop her, making her yelp beneath him. Kakuzu scowled.

"Bastard." He grumbled, stepping forward but didn't progress further when Hiruko's scorpion-este tail arched itself in his direction.

"Nah uh uh. Ya ain't getting' 'er back 'til ya defeat me. Tha' was the condition I left in tha' note." Was Hiruko's rebuttal, his metal stringer swaying like a waggling finger. "Tha' should be easy 'nuff fer ya, Kakuzu." Mention of his name surprised Kakuzu as his folded arms fell against his sides and his eyebrows crinkled over his sunglasses, causing Hiruko to snicker. "Oh yes, I knows all 'bout ya. I realized who you was when I seen yer lil' pet las' we met. Tha' the Jiongu? Er, Earth Grudge Fear it known as too? I 'member readin' all 'bout ya in the news; convicted criminal responsible fer stealin' Takigakure's Kinjutsu an' murderin' the Elders. Ya was quite the talk. Still is, bein' the person wit' the highest bounty in the world, afterall."

Kakuzu sighed, shaking his head. Should've known that one day someone would figure out his identity. Although, he had done a decent job keeping himself inconspicuous these last few years through simplistic means of changing his appearance and withholding his name. Hiruko was the first person to have it pieced together through Kakuzu's own dumb mistake. There was no point in keeping himself disguised anymore then. Reaching up, he removed his sunglasses, nestling them in his pocket and yanked his black bandana down around his neck. This was a first without either of them and there was the experience of a type of nakedness for him.

"So, the rumours is true then tha' the Jiongu prevents natural healin'" Hiruko muttered, sunken orbs observing Kakuzu's stitched-on jaw. "Stitched together like a ragdoll, ya is."

Kakuzu snorted, lips twitching. "You're one to talk."

Hiruko released a laugh which could be mistaken as genuine. "I ain't one to talk, is I? Got a face only me mum could love." He joked, but his humour was short-lived. "Now then, lil' talk aside. Le's git on wit' it. I'm anxious to add ya to me collection. How 'bout ya show me yer lil' pet 'gain? I wanna see the full potential of the Jiongu." Kakuzu decided to grant his request.

He uttered a single name underneath his breath for this battle. His sleeveless shirt ruffled as the mask stitched to his back reacted to its moniker and released itself. Exiting, it collapsed into the sand in a jumble of twitching threading as it assembled itself into its physical form. Once finished, beside him was Rājan.

Hiruko muttered an inquisitive noise, his tail wagging behind him like an excited dog. "Ohh, I recognize 'im. Ya ain't got more?"

"I do; but all I need is the one to defeat you."

"Oh? Alrigh'. Le's git on wit' it then. If ya can defeat me, ya can 'ave yer pup bac' an' take me bac' to Sunagakure. Should be easy 'nuff fer ya. 'specially wit'ou' tha' ol' hag hinderin' ya." Kakuzu didn't bother with asking what would happen if he couldn't do that since the answer was obvious. Bastard loved his games though, didn't he?

Hiruko took a defensive position. His wooden joints locked themselves together in his arms and legs, keeping his weighty puppet frame pendulous while his metallic tail steadied over his hunched back, prepared to retaliate once attacked. Rājan readied itself also but did nothing else as Kakuzu hadn't given it permission. That was because he was hammering out the last details of his strategy. If he wanted a fast win, he could've used Teo instead and turned this bastard into firewood. However, Hiruko wasn't the one he was occupied with; it was Zetsu.

He needed to get her out from underneath Hiruko without bringing harm to her or disturbing her. If she stayed where she was, an incident was waiting to happen, and he couldn't afford either having her killing Hiruko or vise versa. So, his main objection would be separating her from the skirmish. He couldn't make it obvious though as Hiruko had proven himself to be a clever and in own words an "opportunist" person. If he realized what Kakuzu was trying to do, he might intentional hurt the girl and that wouldn't end well for anyone involved. He had a plan though; killing two birds with one stone. Kakuzu whistled and Rājan grumbled its acknowledgement then both lunged.

Hiruko scoffed at their failed attempt at a sneak attack. His tail launched at them and Kakuzu and Rājan separated, causing it miss. The lightning mask went to the right while its host to the left. Hiruko's head bobbed between them as he decided which to attack. Since he knew little of this creature's capabilities, he decided on Kakuzu as his tail made a b-line after him. Kakuzu saw it incoming and Doton-ed his arm, reflecting the stringer in an explosion of sparks of the grinding metal. This had been part of his plan, however, and Hiruko had waltz right into it. When Hiruko made Kakuzu his choice to attack, Rājan pounced at him. It bellowed as it swung its black fist, striking Hiruko in the side with a solid punch. The impact made a hollow thunking noise and did little else than jar the puppet master slightly. Hiruko's head immediately snapped towards Rājan and surged his metallic tail at it next which it dodged, mindful its heart behind its porcelain oni mask.

"Wha' was tha' supposed ta be, eh? A tickle?"

However, this again, played into Kakuzu's plan. With Hiruko's attention of Rājan, he charged in with his own attack. He slid through the copper-heavy sand and activating his Doton, punched his bronze fist right into Hiruko's other side. The insane strength behind it was enough to send Hiruko teetering as he stumbled a few steps to the side, almost off Zetsu. Realizing this, the girl reached desperate hand out to Kakuzu, pleading eyes staring at him. However, Hiruko recovered himself quickly and huddled back over the girl before Kakuzu had the chance to grab her, leaving her tiny hand sticking out from underneath him. Obviously, he wouldn't be giving her up easily. While a failure, it wasn't a disappointment, as Kakuzu had learned valuable information from this first wave of attacks.

' _It isn't either of his sides.'_ He thought, leaping backwards and Rājan regrouped with him. _'This bastard is smart. We have to find it before he figures us out.'_

"Tha' it? 'm disappointed. I was expectin' a figh' this time." Hiruko taunted him but Kakuzu didn't answer, occupied with thinking up their next move.

Hiruko's squinted his shutter-like eyelids at him as the brunette's bloodshot eyes stared at him, not being to hide this fact without his sunglasses. His deep expression told him he was scheming something else up and his tail twitched in anticipation of this. Finally, Kakuzu finished his thoughts and whistled a series of orders to Rājan who reciprocated them with a snort. He gave the signal and Rājan jumped away to flank Hiruko while Kakuzu went in with the frontal assault.

"Straigh' on now? Alrigh'!" Hiruko yelled, gleeful with this development. He found himself getting involved in this little skirmish of theirs now, more so than last time.

Reaching up, he yanked down his bandana, revealing his own screwed up facial features. In this case: a segmented spring-loaded jaw. Kakuzu was slightly taken aback by this; but not so much so as by the stream of poisonous senbon being sprayed out said mouth in rapid succession. He quickly hardened his arms and used them to shield himself from the barrage. This halted him in place. It didn't matter though because in that time, Rājan had positioned itself behind Hiruko; who was aware it was there, but there was hesitation in attacking it when he recalled that which had happened to his tail during their last bout. It was this hesitation that gave Rājan a window. It leapt over him and roared as it bought both fists down into the man's hunched back. While he initially withstood the direct impact, over the high-pitched noise of flying needles, there was a distinct cracking. Hiruko's eyes widened and his disjointed jaw instantly snapped shut upon this, relieving Kakuzu of his continuous gunfire in the process.

Kakuzu smirked at the reaction, dropping his arms. _'Bingo.'_

Like that, a light bulb flickered on in Hiruko's head, shedding light on Kakuzu's little scheme. "Ya bastard." He snarled, tail striking against like the sand like a bullwhip with a sickening crack and casting a red cloud. He had cracked him; cracked his perfect body! "Playin' wit' me, hav' ya? Thinkin' ya can destroy me, aye? Chiyo bin chatterin' in yer ear? I ain't playin' no more than!"

Rājan, who had been standing behind him, decided to take advantage of his blinding rage as it lunged for a second attack. This time, Hiruko demonstrated no hesitation and the heart container didn't have the ability to evade in its mid-air position when the metallic tail pierced through the middle of it. While it couldn't experience pain, the stabbing staggered Rājan and it bellowed out. He diverted his gaze from the withering creature back to his main target, expecting to find him stunned he had killed his little pet like that. Instead, Kakuzu's smirking had increased and his shoulders were trembling as he held back laughter. This just angered Hiruko further.

"Wha'!? Wha' ya laughin' at!?"

"Because you just made my plan work perfectly." Kakuzu replied and smiled, lips splitting back into his Glasgow smile.

Just then, there was the distinct crackling of electricity as blue static circulated through Rājan's hulking frame. Hiruko heard this and glimpsed back over his hunched back at it's towering figure which was glowing a dazzling blue with it mirrored in its eye sockets. Realizing what was happening, he tried to withdraw his tail. However, Rājan's stringy body had tied itself around it like it had when it saved Chiyo and prevented this. Hiruko had trapped himself. With a roar, Rājan let Hiruko have it; unleashing the thunderstorm brewing inside it. The metal scorpion tail spiked through the familiar behaved like a lightning rod and absorbed all the electricity released right into its owner.

Hiruko screamed in pain as he was electrocuted, unlike a dead puppet would. Over his wailing, a different yowling could be heard echoing his but couldn't be located. His head and body twitched disturbingly like a malfunctioning animatronic. Smoke billowed up as his wooden physique kindled and started burning away like firewood, setting his black cloak alight. Rājan didn't yield though and continued pumping the high voltage into him. With Hiruko crippled, Kakuzu stole his opportunity. Running at him, he fortified his fist. He launched himself over the puppeteer and brought it down directly onto his back; his one weak spot. Instantly, the that one minor crack left spiderwebbed throughout the wooden man and he shattered into an explosion of shrapnel and splinters which ejected across the Bloodlands. Hiruko's head bounced through the sand and tumbled against Kakuzu's boot which he stomped onto it, caving in his hideous, dead face. Hiruko was gone. However, this wasn't over.

Suddenly, Hiruko's black cloak, burned and tattered, raised and jumped away like it was possessed by Hiruko's spirit, revealing Zetsu who had been hidden beneath. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, sand pouring off her clothing. While upset, her face dirty with sand glued to the snot and tears drenching her face in a disgusting display, she hadn't been affected by the lightning; except her green hair standing up from the static. This was thanks to Kakuzu. During his first attack on Hiruko, he had kicked sand underneath him and bured her as protection from Rājan's attack since it wouldn't conduct the electricity.

Rājan wrenched the detached tail out from its fiber anatomy and threw it aside. It tended to Zetsu, huddling itself over her trembling form and snorting to hush her. With Zetsu safe, Kakuzu stared at fabric as it trembled and wheezed. A minute passed, then the cloak straightened up and started laughing; an insane, hysterical laugh. Zetsu cowered against Rājan while Kakuzu stared on, unperturbed by the eerie noise.

"Brilliant," The Cloak said, trembling as it snickered. "You played me; finding Hiruko's weakness then tricking me into attackin' your critter. You're clever. However, I'm unpleased you destroyed my favourite puppet."

"There's a reason I've never fought an opponent twice. Consider this fight a privilege." Kakuzu proclaimed, proudly crossing his arms. "Now I've finished playing too. Why don't you show yourself so I'm not speaking to a tablecloth?"

"Hmph, you're an impatient man; but so, am I." A bandaged hand extended out from underneath the cloak. It grasped it then with one fell swoop, threw the cloth off; revealing the real person who had been behind all this.

"You're that Chiyo Lady's grandson." Kakuzu said, recognizing the redheaded teenager from the picture she had shown him. He was identical to the photograph like it had been taken yesterday, down to his Sunagakure armour and dead-eyed gaze. It took him a minute to recall his name though. "Sasori."

Sasori smiled, a genuinely disturbing gesture paired with his thousand-yard stare. "So, Granny Chiyo told you about me? You've heard nothin' but good things then?"

"If you consider mass murdering and maiming good things, then yes. I'm positive she'll love to hear how you're responsible for the murder of hundreds of Suna citizens and the Third too."

"Well, we can't all be perfect." He made a handsign causing the shattered pieces of Hiruko to disappear with puffs of smoke after which he scowled. "Tch, all that effort, wasted. It took months to plan his kidnappin'; longer to perfectly mimic that imbecilic accent of his."

"Your accent isn't much better." Kakuzu quipped and Sasori laughed, so loud and audibly faked that it was awkward.

"So says the walkin' patchwork." Kakuzu frowned. He couldn't believe it, but he was starting to miss Hiruko's dry humour. This brat obviously hadn't heard a joke in his life. "Now, joshin' aside. Let us continue our little skirmish."

"Tch, I already won our "little skirmish". I defeated you. Now you have to honour the conditions of our agreement and return to Suna with me, so I can collect my reward."

"No, no, no. You defeated _Hiruko_ , not _me_." Sasori insisted, gesturing at himself with a shit-eating grin. "So, our agreement is on. You have your girl back so the least you can do is indulge me. I haven't had the chance to try my newest puppet."

Kakuzu lowered his arms and glowered at the teenager. "You little shit." He muttered. Somehow, Sasori took this as confirmation.

Reaching behind himself, he withdrew one of the scrolls buckled to his back and extended his hand out. His fingers unfurled it and on the inside of the parchment had been painted the symbol "san" in large, black brushes. He activated the scroll and a dark plume of smoke erupted from it, swallowing him inside. Kakuzu predicted what was going to happen and prepared himself for the worse outcome. The exhausted thinned into nothing, revealing Sasori's newest puppet—a handsome being with black, messy hair and narrowed, golden eyes, clad in a fur collared, brown cloak.

Kakuzu didn't recognize the person it was, but he had his theory who it was. "So, is this what happened to the Third?" He asked the boy. Immediately, Sasori smiled, chocolate pupils shrinking.

"Yes, it is. He was the challenge to kill but rewardin'." He caressed the puppet's face in a creepy manner that no adolescent boy should be touching a man, dead or alive. "I've been itchin' for an excuse to use him, and I think you've given me that excuse. But before we do anythin' else, I'll take back what is mine." Kakuzu didn't know what he was talking about, but he got the hint once Sasori's dead gaze turned towards Rājan and Zetsu.

He barely managed to yell at Rājan when Sasori lunged the Third Kazekage at it. The creature immediately leapt up, sheltering Zetsu behind it and unleashed a lightning storm at the attacking puppet. The Third's jaw parted open and a blackness escaped it like a swarm of bees. The blue discharge struck the mysterious matter and fizzled out; it had resisted the electricity. It then massed itself over Rājan's mask and blinded it. It desperately tried clawing it away, but the material had calcified itself and the creation's fingers did nothing. Kakuzu tried rescinding the heart container but it was too late. With a twitch of Sasori's finger, the Third threw back its right arm and several, different-sized blades erected themselves out of the limb. Rājan heard the telltale noise of the razors slicing through the air and sidestepped out of the way. However, because it could not see, it miscalculated the size of the razors and despite its effort to evade them, the blades were uppercutted through its head. Crumbling away, the black substance revealed the shanks had pierced right through Rājan's mask as blood streamed through the punctures. Kakuzu cringed, grasping his chest like the hit had been direct.

Sasori smiled. "Oh, so that's how you kill 'em."

Rājan released a low groan, blood bubbling from its snarling mouth. Its threaded body seizure, melting away, and the cracked oni mask fell to the ground, blood splattered. Its punctured heart tumbled out and twitched, emptying out the last of its bloody contents to further saturate the sand then withered. With Rājan gone, Zetsu was left exposed. She had huddled herself into a fetal position and peered up, watering eyes staring into the dead gaze of the Kazekage as it reached a hand towards her. Kakuzu recovered himself quickly and started running to save her.

Realizing he wouldn't make it in time, he ejected his hand to grab her instead. The Third's head snapped up, glass eyes staring at the objectionable limb. It swung its weaponized arm at the detached hand, making Kakuzu withdraw it to prevent amputation. Unfortunately, this meant Zetsu was left to be snatched up by the puppet. It grabbed the back of her medical gown and with her in hand, flew backwards back to its master. Zetsu was dumped to the ground and immediately, she tried scrambling away but didn't get far as Sasori bought his foot down onto her back. She cried out.

"There, now it is like nothin' happened." Sasori smirked, digging his sandal heel into her and taking pleasure in her pained mewling.

"You little bastard." Kakuzu snarled, gritting his teeth. He was angry with the boy, but the same time he wasn't pleased with Zetsu either for getting herself in these situations over and over again. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, but she has everythin' to do with this. She's going to make a perfect puppet. Afterall," The redhead leant down and Zetsu yelped when he grabbed a handful of her short hair, using it to yank her head backwards. "She has the Mayfly." He smiled at Kakuzu's temporarily stunned expression at this revelation. "Oh yes, saw it myself; back at the farmhouse. The Mayfly is extinct—or so said. So, to stumble upon a girl with it—how could I pass up the opportunity to turn her into a puppet? That is, if I win."

So that confirmed a lot. One: that it had been Sasori which had been in the house while Hiruko was outside, and two: Zetsu had used the Mayfly to escape. _'Goddamnit, Zetsu.'_ Kakuzu thought, squeezing his fists. She hadn't failed yet to exasperate him.

Sasori released her hair and straightened up, stepping off her, much to the relief of her broken ribs. "The conditions shall be the same: to the winner goes the spoils. If you win, then you get your little anklebiter back. However, if I win, then I have two new puppets for my collection. Fair enough?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

Kakuzu sighed. He had no choice in the manner. Besides, he was tired of this little shit and wanted to punch his smug face in for all the hell he had been subjecting him to. "If I win, I'll take your heart and your dead body back to Suna."

"Ohh, ok then. Now, yabberin' aside. I do not like makin' people wait and would end this quickly, but I want the chance to play with my favourite puppet for a bit. So, let's get on with it."

Kakuzu indulged him, because unlike the teenager, he wanted to end this quickly. Due to this, he summoned two masks instead of relying one again. There was a danger with risking two more of his hearts after having lost Rājan, but he wasn't going to underestimate this kid and the Kazekage puppet. His choice was Teo and Amatsu. Teo wedged itself out of Kakuzu's collar and shambled alongside him while Amatsu slithered out from underneath his shirt and sank itself into the sand like an alligator.

"Ohhh, there's two of the thingos now." Sasori cooed with fabricated enthusiasm and clapped his hands. "You weren't lyin' when you said you had more of 'em. If you're ready now, we can sta—oh." He paused mid-word as something had caught his eye and he turned his head towards it. Kakuzu was stolen out of his scheming thought for how to rescue Zetsu to see what the boy was looking at.

While Sasori had been distracted, Zetsu had mustered up what little strength she had to drag herself away in a poor attempt as escape. Sadly, her trail left in the sand had been noticed. He walked after her, causing her to heave herself faster to get away but the pain made it difficult and she temporarily writhed, giving him the chance to catch up with her.

"Where'd you think you're going?" He asked, leaning over her.

Kakuzu whistled and Teo and Amatsu instantly charged to save the girl before he had a chance to hurt her. Their path was obscured though as the Third Kazekage intercepted them, arms spread and slack jawed. Teo exhaled a jet of fire at it and the puppet retaliated by breathing its black mist. The white-hot flames struck the unknown element and exploded upon contact. When the dust cleared, the fire had done nothing as the black substance remained intact and the Third safe behind it. Amatsu decided to try next and spewed a current of water at it. Narrowing its throat, it condensed the stream into a water jet cutter. The water impacted the blackness and but instead of punching through it like paper with the increased pressure, it was stopped dead as if it were no more powerful than a child's water gun.

Sasori smirked, having heard the ruckus happening behind him. "The Third's Iron Sand is impenetrable. You're wasting your time." He walked back to his creation, dragging a kicking Zetsu behind him by the hair.

She latched her hands onto his wrists to remove his hand, accidently scratching him in the process. Feeling the stinging of her nails biting into his skin, he wrenched his hand away, dropping her as he did so.

He analyzed his wrist, staring at the thin, red lines she had left behind and narrowed his lashed eyelids at her. "Did you just…scratch me?" He proclaimed, aghast. "You little monster!"

"Not monster!" Zetsu screamed back, her hatred of that insult stronger than her fear in that flitting moment.

This, combined with her failed escape and clawing, as what shattered what little tolerance Sasori had and he proceeded to punch her in the face. Zetsu cried out, blood spraying as her nose was immediately broken—again. He didn't stop with that though, or rather couldn't stop himself, as he straddled her and brought his fists against her face over and over again, grinning manically as she screamed and cried. She tried to shield her face with her hand, but they were yanked away without an ounce of gentleness and at one point, there was a distance cracking and she felt something break inside her wrist, making her shriek.

' _Goddamnit, he's going to make her go berserk!'_ Kakuzu thought and sprinted to stop the puppeteer before he did something that everyone would regret.

However, like Teo and Amatsu, he was stonewalled as the Third jumped in front of him, bladed arm cocked back. He skidded to a halt and his masks leapt between him and the puppet to defend him.

Finally, Sasori discontinued his assault on Zetsu who had stopped moving. He glanced up, panting and lips twitching back into an insane smile. "There," He muttered, standing off her and wiping the blood splattered on his face while he stared down at the unconscious girl. "Now you'll think twice before trying those little stunts again." He flicked the stray blood off his knuckles and with the twitch of his pinky, the Third sprung back to him, hunching itself against his back.

Kakuzu clenched his teeth and looked at Zetsu, who was indistinguishable with her face beaten and bloody. He prayed she had blacked out and wouldn't regain consciousness until this was all over because he wasn't in the position to wrangle her. His bloodshot eyes snapped back to Sasori's smug-ass face and he snarled with Teo and Amatsu amplifying him. This brat didn't realize what he may have done.

"You little shit."

Sasori sighed, shaking his head. "You seriously should invent new insults; You're borin' me." He brushed his messy hair back and the crimson locks fell back into place. "I didn't kill her. I can check her pulse for you, if you'd like." He gestured at her, then turned to do just that so he wasn't a lair. As he did, he paused, uttering an inquisitive noise and planting his hands on his hips. Kakuzu saw it too. Zetsu was gone.

A quick investigation revealed her nowhere to be found, so she hadn't crawled off again; not with her injuries. _'She must've used the Mayfly,'_ Kakuzu thought, glancing around to confirm his suspension.

"Tch, she run off usin' her Kekkei Genkai?" Sasori groaned, voicing Kakuzu's thoughts exactly. He turned around, throwing his hands up in a shrug. "Whatever. I'll find her later. She can't escape forever. Until then, I'll take care of you." Sasori stepped forward, his stare chilling and psychotic grinning splitting his cheeks. The Third hovered overhead and Teo and Amatsu prepared themselves with Kakuzu activating his Doton in his arm as a precaution. "Let's fini—"

His statement was cut off though as when he started pacing forward, and his leg fell through the sand, making him lurch in what could be considered a comedic manner if the circumstances were different. Thinking he stepped into a sand trap, he scowled and attempted to lift his foot out. However, it was stuck. It felt like something was holding onto it.

"What the f—" Again, he couldn't finish what would've been his colourful statement.

Suddenly, his foot was yanked down further, and in an instant, his confusion vanished as he threw back his head and released a bloodcurdling scream. Kakuzu was startled by the unexpected noise escaping the teenager and stared at him as he started thrashing and shrieking like a trapped animal. He then saw it; blood. It was oozing through the sand where the boy's foot had fallen through and immediately, he realized what was happening.

"Fuck!" Kakuzu proclaimed and rushed to assist him. Though, exactly like last time, he was prevented by the Third Kazekage, who at this point was being controlled blindly as it twitched and chattered its jaw creepily. "I'm trying to fucking help you, you little shit!" He screamed at it but was drowned out by its master's screaming.

Sasori continued yelling as he desperately clawed at his own leg to release it, tearing his pant leg with his nails and slicing the skin underneath. There was the crunching of the bones in his foot, like something was biting onto it and the harder he pulled, the further down his leg was swallowed by the ground until it was up to his knee. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of tugging, he freed himself and was thrown onto his back. He sat up, midway through a relieved sigh when he looked down at his leg, or lack thereof; his left leg was nothing but bleeding stump and was missing below the knee. Lips trembling and eyes widening, he let out a petrified scream that made Kakuzu cover his ears from the glass-shattering capabilities of it. Even Teo and Amatsu winced.

Sasori scrambled backwards through the sand, hyperventilating and sweating, staring at his amputated leg as it spewed a trail of dark blood. Then, something grabbed onto his wrist and stopped him. Inhaling, trembling orbs inched down to his hand and discovered someone else's hand, sprouted through the sand and was holding onto him. His mouth opened to scream again, but it was caught in his throat when the hand wrenched his through the earth without resistance like it was water instead. The shriek found its way out of him when something replicating teeth clamped down onto the appendage.

The Third Kazekage puppet crumpled, as its manipulator faltered with its chakra strings, and Kakuzu took advantage to juke while Teo and Amatsu restrained it. Sasori's arm had been devoured past the elbow by the time he made it to the teenager, and the redhead was shoveling away the sand in a frantic struggle to salvage the limb. Kakuzu wasn't given a welcoming reception when he tried helping.

"Fuck off!" Sasori shrilled at him, elbowing the elder with his other arm. As a result, the Third Kazekage revived back to life and bucked Teo and Amatsu off.

Once released, it sped towards Sasori and Kakuzu, razored arms pointed at them. Kakuzu backed off because at this moment, he wasn't interested in engaging the artificial Kage. He readied himself to be attacked, but it didn't have the chance. There was a sickening crack and it nosedived into the ground, skidding past the brunet until lagging to a halt, lying motionless in a rusty dust cloud. At first, Kakuzu thought it somehow had broken which explained the fracturing heard. His hunch was proven wrong once he returned his attention back to Sasori.

He was laid out on his back, whimpering pathetically and cradling his shoulder. Beneath him, a steadily growing puddle of blood was developing. The shoulder was empty; the entirety of his right arm had been severed too. Now without an arm and a leg, Kakuzu realized this wouldn't end until there was nothing left of this brat and if there was any time to act, it was now.

"Amatsu!" Kakuzu urgently yelled at his water elemental.

Amatsu answered him with a grunt and lifted itself up onto its stubby legs. Arching its neck back, it released a disgusting gurgling then threw its head down as it retched up a waterfall of fluid. Water gushed through the sand, turning a light red as it washed the old blood soaked into the dirt. Kakuzu snatched Sasori up by the scruff so he wasn't swept away, receiving little resistance. Once upon a time, he had heard a rumour regarding the Mayfly and its dislike of water and anxiously, he waited curious if the myth had been true. A minute passed, then finally, the anticipated result.

Zetsu burst out of the scarlet mud and water with a high-pitched shriek, crimson-streaked canines gnashing the air. Kakuzu whistled and Amatsu desisted in its deluge so it didn't accidently drown the girl. He abandoned a stock-still Sasori as he lumbered through bodily fluid-tinted sludge to his subordinate, thankful for his boots. She had been trapped up to her chest and was scrabbling to escape, fruitlessly digging her fingers into the muck. Her wriggling was interrupted as her dilated, berserked gaze flickered up to the massive man. Blood was dripping off her chin and he didn't know if it belonged to her, or Sasori. However, the flesh and tissue wedged between her teeth was the latter's. He knelt over her and she hissed into his face. Ignoring it, he wrapped a large hand around her neck and squeezed. He didn't want to hurt her further by rendering her unconscious with a hit to the head. She squealed and struggled, clawing at his hand. While she left a few, nasty bleeding cuts, her fighting was futile and after several tense seconds, her eyes went white as she blacked out. He released her and Amatsu scurried to excavate her.

With everything said and done, he turned around to check on Sasori who had been left laying in the mud. His brown eyes were large and blank on his ghostly white face while his shaking hand squeezed his desolate shoulder socket—the telltale symptoms of shock. He was nothing like the prideful, shit stain he had once been minutes ago.

"See what you've done?" Kakuzu asked him like a parent scolding their child and gestured at his missing arm and leg which he had no one to blame but himself. No response was received though, because Sasori's jaw trembled, as if to answer, but then his eyes rolled back into his head. The blood loss finally claimed him. In the distance, there was an explosion of smoke as the Third Kazekage puppet automatically returned itself to its scroll. Kakuzu sighed, taking a moment to observe the carnage Zetsu had unleashed once again. Everything had happened so quickly. This hadn't gone anything like he thought but he had to stop being surprised, he told himself, shaking his head in distain. He whistled at Teo.

Teo bumbled over and Kakuzu fetched a kunai kept stashed on his ankle. He lifted it up to the lion mask and it breathed a tiny flame against it, heating the metal. Once red hot, he crouched beside the out cold teenager. He started with his leg, which had been left to bleed out the longest, and held the burning knife against the stub. Smoke billowed up as the flesh was cauterized and the scent of burning flesh made the older man taste bile in the back of his throat. Somehow, he kept his stomach down until he finished cooking the wound shut and ended the fountain of blood gushing from it. The shoulder was more difficult to patch up because unlike his leg which had been a relatively straight cut, the arm hadn't torn off but rather been extracted and left a crater behind. After much patience and a lot of ruined kunais, he had managed to solder the socket too. He checked the boy's pulse, to determine if he had survived the procedure and blood loss. It was weak, but he would live long enough to make it back to Suna.

By now, Amatsu had finished exhuming Zetsu and waddled over with her nestled in its overexaggerated arms. Plus, her backpack it had found. He took both from it, tucking her against his chest while he secured Sasori beneath his arm. Teo and Amatsu went back to their slumber with their remaining sibling and with both children in hand, Kakuzu trudged back towards Sunagakure to claim his reward—with benefits if he was so lucky. What a shitty day this had turned out to be and he prayed it wouldn't get worse. He shouldn't have knocked on wood.

…

It was the halfway point to Suna when Kakuzu encountered an unexpected face casually walking the middle of the Wastelands.

"Akatsuki!" Geil yelled once spying the larger man and running towards Kakuzu who quickly tugged up his bandana, having forgotten he didn't have it on. He didn't care so much if people saw his ruptured eyes. "Counsellor Chiyo told us that your daughter was kidnapped and—" However, his words faded away once the scarred man noticed one of the teenagers Kakuzu had and recognized the bright red hair. "I-Is that Akasuna-no-Sasori!?"

"Yes, it is." Kakuzu confirmed. "He would be the one responsible everything. Hiruko was nothing but a puppet and the Third Kazekage is dead; turned him into a puppet too."

This information apparently overloaded Geil's brain as he gaped his mouth open and shut for several seconds like a suffocating fish. His jaw snapped shut once everything had processed and he nodded at Kakuzu. "If everything you say is true, then it should be easy enough to confirm. I'll take Akasuna-no-Sasori back." He extended his hand out to take Sasori but Kakuzu stepped back out of his reach. Geil clenched his hand like he had been denied a handshake.

"I'm not handing him over until I get paid." Kakuzu said and Geil narrowed his eyes at him, fist falling against his side

It was a minute until Geil spoke again and whatever fake friendless he had mustered up in his voice was gone, replaced instead by a harshness. "There will be no payment." He declared and obtained the scimitar attached to his back, pointing it at Kakuzu who didn't flinch. "The Kazekage has instead ordered your immediate execution."

He snapped his fingers and the dunes behind him sprung alive; revealing it not to be sand but at least two dozen shinobi who had disguised themselves using camouflaged blankets. They circled Kakuzu with weapons with their weapons drawn and instead of being intimidated, the elder sighed. He wanted to say he was surprised, but he wasn't; he known this deal was too good to be true. All this trip ended up being was frustration after frustration.

"Now, we'll be taking Akasuna-no-Sasori, and your life." Geil said.

At this moment, given Kakuzu's situation with two unconscious teenagers in hand and down a heart, he wasn't in the condition nor mood to fight. As much as he would take pleasure in murdering all these bastards one by one with his bare hands, he had had enough bullshit for one day between Hiruko then Sasori then Zetsu going insane and now this? He was tired of all of it, and the sun. He was done. He was so fucking done.

It was because of this reason that he unleashed true potential of the Earth Grudge Fear, something he hadn't done since murdering Takigakure's Elders. In minutes, everyone laid dead, having been ripped apart limb by limb and their souls delivered straight to hell. No one was left alive except Geil who was on the ground, paralyzed with terror after what he had just witnessed. Bloodsoaked threads slithered back inside Kakuzu and sewn back together the dark skin which had been spilt open from the outbreak of hundreds, if not thousands of the tendrils from every old injury and opening on his person. Kakuzu cracked his neck, the onslaught having left him with a hitch. Also, without a shirt as it laid in tatters around his feet, having been shedded by his Kinjutsu.

His flat gaze fell upon Geil who yelped and tried to drag himself away, but the task was made difficult by the fact both his arms had been torn off. Kakuzu stepped his boot onto the other's chest and pressed it down as he leant onto his knee, staring at the sniveling man.

"P-P-Please…I have a son…" Geil begged him but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

A manifested hand of threads budded from Kakuzu's back and plunged into Geil's chest, yanking out his heart. It killed him instantly though created a gruesome show as blood spewed from the hole in his chest like a fountain. The still pumping heart was transferred down like a snake gulping as egg to replace the heart that had been lost today. With that, he and his companions were left in the bloodshed to be baked by the glaring sun for the hungry vultures circling overhead.

Kakuzu started the travel back to the Riverlands, empty-handed of payment and instead of two teenagers.

**…**

Days later, Chiyo discovered a mysterious letter marked to her on the front step. It was contained in a blank envelope without return address. When she read it though, she figured who had written it without reading the name at the bottom.

_Dear Chiyo Lady,_

_I'm writing you this letter to inform you that your grandson, Sasori, was responsible for the deaths of Hiruko and the Third Kazekage, both of which he turned into puppets. He has been brought into the Akatsuki and is safe with us. I was incapable of telling you this in person due to circumstances._

_P.S._

_Tell the Fourth Kazekage he can go fuck himself._

_From,_

_Akatsuki Boy._

In this, Chiyo found a bittersweet relief. While horrified her cherished grandson, whom she had raised herself since he was a toddler and she thought she known, had committed such unspeakable acts, at least he was alive and safe. She decided to share this information with Rasa.

"Oh, and Rasa?" Chiyo asked, standing in the doorway of the Kazekage's Office to leave after informing him of the letter.

"Hmm?"

"Go fuck yourself." With that, she casually left, leaving behind a thoroughly bewildered and pissed Rasa. Given she was an Elder, there was nothing he could do about the uncalled for comment.

She had been searching for an excuse to tell him that for years.


	25. Arc 2: Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu returns with a new kid and what to do with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sasori is fifteen upon his introduction. I realize Konan and Pein are supposed to be the same age as him (both being 35 in Shippuden) but in Wasteland, at this moment, both are 20. So, five years older. This the only time characters will have their ages altered.
> 
> Warning(s): Language (High), Genderbend, OC

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 24**

Konan was presently by herself in the cabin as Pein had stepped out to Amegakure to check in on their projects for himself. She was currently seated at Pein's desk, signing her own considerably smaller amount of paperwork when there was a startling crash upstairs. Thinking someone was breaking in, she hurried up the stairwell, preparing to unleash a million papercuts upon the intruder. What she found upon reaching the main level wasn't a curious stranger that had selected the wrong house to burglarize, but rather Kakuzu. The crash had been him literally kicking door open as it laid depressed into the wall. This resulted in a lot of questions for her, like: why'd he do that? Was there a reason he was shirtless? But one question screamed louder in her head than the others when she noticed he was alone.

"Where is Zetsu!?" She roared at him like the mother bear she turned into whenever the girl was involved.

"In the hospital," Kakuzu sighed, in no mood to fight with her over this.

"Why? What happened to her!?"

However, she didn't receive an answer to this as Kakuzu shouldered past her to his room then proceeded to slam the door behind him causing this one to buckle and fall inward. Realizing this, she shrugged on her old Akatsuki cloak and proceeded to run to Amegakure to find out if he had been telling her the truth.

Upon her entrance into the children's wing, she franticly requested the nurses for Dr. Ryu since he was Zetsu's primary. A nurse fetched him and after several minutes, he entered the waiting room after having been dragged out of an examination on said patient.

"Hello, Konan-chan. Zetsu is okay." He immediately said once he walked up to the woman, smoothing out his ruffled coat.

Konan leapt out of her chair. "What happened to her?"

"Kakuzu brought Zetsu in with—according to him—several broken bones including her ribs and possibly in her face."

"What!? How!?"

"I do not know, he did not explain. We're doing an examination on her now and we have discovered that three of her ribs on the left side of her ribcage have been broken and a large gash which may have been the cause. Her nose is noticeably broken and there is black bruising on her face where is an indication of being broken. That is what we have found so far."

"Oh my god." She gasped, lifting her hands over her gasping mouth. "Can she be healed?"

"Her face: yes. Her ribs, however, given that there were bone fragments found, she may require surgery to have her ribcage stabilized with metal plates. Our medics will try a healing the damage first and if it fails, there nothing else can be done except surgery. However, I have confidence that Zetsu won't require it. She's proven herself quite the remarkable healer, given what she was here for last." Ryu said and smiled, trying to uplift the angel-incarnate's spirit towards the girl's condition.

It was successful as Konan gifted him back a tiny smile. "Yes, you're right. Can I see her?"

"I'll ask the medics if they'll be healing her immediately after her examination is finished. If not, you can see her."

"Thank you, Ryu." She suddenly hugged him and while it hadn't been expected, it wasn't rejected.

Dr. Ryu excused himself afterward, fiddling with his spectacles to hide his blushing face as he left to check on Zetsu's progress. While Konan was a little relieved, she was still beside herself for the girl as she patiently/impatiently waited for the diagnosis to finish. When Dr. Ryu came out to fetch her hours later, she basically bulldozed her way into Zetsu's room. When Zetsu woke up, she was the recipient of a lot of hugs and kisses against her bruised face. She couldn't tell what had happened to her besides being attacked by a "firefly". Konan decided to stay with her while she underwent her other operations.

…

Meanwhile, Kakuzu rested. He spent the day he returned back doing nothing but sleeping. The next day, he begrudgingly decided to go check on Zetsu and Sasori after literally walking in and dumping the two teenagers on Ryu then left without an explanation. The pediatrician was surprised to have his old friend walk into his office while on his lunch break.

"Oh, hello, Kakuzu," Ryu greeted, setting down a patient's file he had been thumbing through while eating his lunch. "Are you here for Zetsu? Or that boy you also brought in?"

Kakuzu grunted his unenthusiastic answer and shrugged. "Unfortunately." He awkwardly cleared his throat, inching his nose. "Sorry for leaving them like I did. Wasn't exactly was in the mood to talk."

"Oh, it's quite alright. I'm just glad you brought them in. Especially the boy. Er…?"

"Sasori."

"Sasori." Ryu nodded, finding a random scrap of paper to scribble down the name so the one in the boy's medical records could be updated from "John Doe". "He was suffering from severe blood loss which would've killed him if he didn't receive immediate medical attention. It is a miracle he survived. I noticed he had fresh amputation sites on his arm and leg. May I ask what happened?"

"Zetsu happened. Girl went insane and ate the little shit's arm and leg." Kakuzu casually said, a little too casually.

Ryu pushed his glasses up which had slid down his nose as a result of his gaping jaw. "Excuse me, what?"

"You heard me. This isn't first time she's fucking mangled people either. It's the fucking Kekkei Genkai of hers! She goes rabid and tries killing anyone or anything around her; she's already murdered at least a dozen bastards on our last mission and now this! All that'll happen she is going to get worse and worse until one day, she'll stay like that and kill us all! But Sir Fuckface isn't listening to me when I've told him this!" Kakuzu finished his heated rant he had been harbouring for quite some time now and reclined back again the door frame, huffing.

"Oh goodness, this isn't good." Ryu muttered, more so to himself than his guest and rubbed his chin. "I've done more research on the paperwork Konan supplied to me. It's expanded over a ten-year span, so it has taken me awhile to go through it all. But, from what I have learned, the Mayfly isn't like other Kekkei Genkei. Kekkei Genkei are mutations to a person's DNA which gift them with amazing abilities; it's genetics. However, the Mayfly is different. It is heredity, yes; but, it may not though DNA."

Ryu suddenly interrupted his biology lesson as turned in his chair and rifled through the file cabinet of patient records. He found the one had been searching for and threw it onto his desk. It was Zetsu's. "Look here," He opened it and flipped through it until finding the old MRI taken of her brain. He pointed at the black matter infecting her chakraways and Kakuzu glanced over it, more curious it what the quack was going with this than the girl's condition itself. "This is the Mayfly. Apparently, it isn't just a mutation of the genes, but a fungus. There were samples taken of it from a host's brain and replicated fungi in both appearance and behaviour. It's alive and demonstrates similarities to _Ophiocordyceps_ , a fungus which infects ants and hijacks their nervous systems. So, it can be hypothesized that the Mayfly isn't a real Kekkei Genkei but a fungus which mimics a Kekkei Genkai! Then the spore of the fungi infects a newborn child of a mother infected with it and that's how it spreads itself! It's remarkable!"

"Ryu," Kakuzu said once his friend's bizarre fanboying over a bloodline-replicating fungus was finished. "In English, please."

"Err…basically my hypothesis is that whatever the Mayfly is actually it is strangling the chakraway in Zetsu's brain and therefore is putting pressure on it which would explain these "berserk" episodes of hers you described. Now I think of it, it explains why those with the Mayfly went insane. However, why and how they all turned savage at the relative same time is a mystery…" Ryu muttered, rubbing his chin quizzically. "The phenomenon was referred to as "The Third Son's Curse".

"'The Third Son's Curse'? What a stupid name."

"Well, actually, the name is factional accurate. According to Kusagakure's mythology, the Mayfly…"

"Ryu," Kakuzu interrupted him before he could go into another one of his uninteresting ramblings, then said as gently as he could. "I don't care." Much to the smaller man's disappointment. "Can you treat Zetsu of whatever the fuck this is or not?"

"We can try. Now that I have a better idea of what the Mayfly is doing, I think the best course of action is a charka dialysis. However, instead cycling the chakra out with new chakra, I'll see if our medics can instead wash out this, what I'll simply call "infection" out with their healing chakra. If it is successful, then Zetsu should be perfectly fine. She'll just require the procedure periodically to prevent it from growing back."

It was better than nothing. "Alright. Meanwhile, the boy. When will he be released? I need him back as soon as possible."

"He's been receiving blood transfusions and antibiotics. Both the treatment and observation typically last between four and six days. If his symptoms are minimal and his blood tests are clear, then he should be released at the minimum of four days."

"So, I should back here in two days for him?"

"Yes."

"And Zetsu?"

"Zetsu will stay a bit longer. She had broken ribs, a broken wrist and a broken nose. Thankfully, none of them required surgery to repair. However, I'd like to run new tests on her to evaluate the progression of the Mayfly and see if she can do that procedure on her. Konan is currently with her."

That was answer enough for the tanned-skinned man. He knew better than to attempt to go near the girl when Konan was skulking around. "Alright, I'll be back in two days. Until then, Ryu." He threw his hand back over his shoulder as a farewell wave as he left the claustrophobic office.

Ryu gathered Zetsu's record to put back but paused, staring at it thoughtfully. "I think I'm going to write a book." He nodded to himself went back to his cold noodles.

…

When Kakuzu returned back to the cabin, he wasn't the only person there as Sir Leader was back. He telepathically requested his attendance in the basement once picking up the elder's presence.

"I apologize, Kakuzu. I had manners to attend to in Amegakure," Sir Leader said once Kakuzu lumbered down the wooden steps. "Was your mission in Sunagakure successful?" The narrowed stare he received could be considered a hint to that question.

"Which part would you like to hear? The fact the payment was a lie and the had Kazekage ordered my execution instead? Or how my target wasn't an old man with kyphosis but a spoiled rotten little shit? Oh, how about how that girl went insane again and basically ate someone alive!?" Kakuzu yelled, voice raising with each suggestion, and he slammed his hands onto Sir Leader's desk, nearly caving it in again.

After a minute of stunned silence, Sir Leader cleared his throat and folded his hands on his lap. "Would you kindly start from the beginning instead?"

Kakuzu obliged him. Taking a seat, he recited the shitshow that had been Sunagakure—of little old ladies with shitty grandsons playing hermits and bastard Kazekages and the ending involving a cannibalistic brat. It like the world's worst children's bedtime story. By the time he finished it, he was panting from pure anger and screaming a majority of the tale and his knee stung from being punched to prevent himself from punching something, or a certain someone else. Failure after failure like this could drive a man to drink and he hated the fact there was no easily accessible booze. Maybe he'd just go to Ame and get drunk there.

Sir Leader hadn't interrupted while listening to Kakuzu's animated testimony of the clusterfuck that had been Sunagakure. After a minute more, he decided it was his turn to talk. "So, Zetsu discovered how to successfully use the Mayfly? That is incredible." Kakuzu spared him a flat look, one which could be felt in its entirety as he eyes weren't obscured by his sunglasses. Seriously, of everything he had just said that was what he had picked up on? Not they lost money again or that Zetsu had eaten a person's arm and leg!? "This boy—Sasori, was it? By what I have heard, he sounds like an exceptional shinobi, and at such a young age. He could be a beneficial member of the Akatsuki."

"Tch, unlikely. It isn't easy for a person to be a shinobi when they're down an arm and leg." Kakuzu was convinced now the ginger hadn't listened to anything he said and just heard what he wanted.

"Hmm, yes, how unfortune. What do you plan with doing with him then, Kakuzu?"

"Sell him. The brat is notorious with his handiwork during the Third War, so it isn't farfetched to think he had made enemies within Suna's rival nations. Any one of them would pay greatly for his head, especially Konohagakure. We can use him to make up the deficient Suna left us with."

"Very well. That sounds like a logical plan to me. I will leave that task up to you to complete. I trust your abilities in negotiating an acceptable price. Once you have found a seller and made the exchange we can speak again. Until then, do you have any further to share?" Kakuzu said nothing since he had said everything he had to said, despite it being ignored, and Sir Leader took this as a "no". "Then you are dismissed. Thank you, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu accepted the permission to leave as he got up from his chair and trudged back upstairs. He kept his promise to himself got wasted that night.

…

Two days later, Kakuzu had written and mailed a proposition to each of the nations—minus the Wastelands—including a letter to a certain grandmother that he had Daora deliver on the way of picking up a package. Once everything was finished, he went to the hospital to pick up the "merchandise".

Sasori was brought out in a wheelchair, unconscious and resembling a corpse by his disheveled appearance and pale skin. Ryu told Kakuzu that the boy might be asleep for a while more given the dosage of drugs in his system then handed him a bag of his clothing and so much medication that it could incapacitate a nation. The attending nurse was horrified when Kakuzu proceeded to pluck the redhead up by the back of his shirt. She stared at Ryu, waiting for him to say something to the man for his treatment of their patient but Ryu knew better than to criticize Kakuzu. So, he kept silent except a goodbye as the large man left with the brat in hand.

When he got back to the cabin, he dumped Sasori in Zetsu's room, since she wasn't using it at the moment. He left the unconscious redhead there, doing nothing to leash him, because given his impairments, the elder figured he wouldn't be getting too far if he did try to run off. Also, Ryu said he'd be out for a bit longer, so he wasn't a harm to anyone. Then, Kakuzu proceeded to forget about the boy until Konan came back the next day from the hospital with a miserable Zetsu beside her. The girl's face was painted black and blue and her nose had a permanent bend to it after being broken so many times. Her wrist had been casted in bright pink bandages (much to Kakuzu's anguish) and when she entered the cabin, she walked rigid because of her healing ribs.

Kakuzu had been eating breakfast when the two returned and instantly, Konan's attention locked onto him with her hawk-like gaze. He predicted the tongue lashing over Zetsu's condition heading his way.

"Zetsu, sweetheart," Konan said, dividing her glaring from him to stare affectionately at Zetsu instead. "Why don't you go lay down? Kakuzu and I need to talk and then I'll be there to tuck you in." Zetsu nodded, tired gaze downward. As she started stepping towards her room, Sasori's existence suddenly came back to Kakuzu.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, standing up to throw away his half-eaten food since his meal would be ruined anyway by her harpy-like shrieking at him.

Konan's narrowed amber-eyed stare returned to him in a millisecond. "Why?" However, before he could answer, the answer presented itself as an eardrum-shattering scream from the room in question. It was echoed shortly after by a loud "what the fuck!?".

Zetsu leapt into Konan's arms and both females stared at the closed door in a mixture of horror and confusion. Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. It appeared the little shit had finally woken up and it couldn't be at a worse time. There was a hard crashing inside the room along with thumping on the wooden flooring occupied by colourful yelling; obviously it was someone falling off a bed then thrashing on the floor to stand, something made harder without a leg. Just listening to it was as humourous as it was pathetic.

Kakuzu approached the room to restrain the rampaging teenager inside before he hurt himself when the door opened itself, revealing a panting Sasori behind it, clad in the medical gown he had been left in. Remarkably, he had managed to get himself on his leg and was balancing himself against the doorframe to stay upright. His red face outshined his red hair and his chocolate orbs flickered their bloodshot gaze to Kakuzu.

"Where…the fuck am I? What the fuck…what the fuck happened to my arm and leg!?" He screamed, the strength behind it almost knocking him over as he wavered and had to catch himself.

"It wasn't me." Kakuzu said, throwing up his hands in his defense.

A tiny whimper caught the puppeteer's attention and his eyes glanced to the cause of it, a woman cradling a girl. Upon recognizing Zetsu, his brown eyes widened and the muscles in his face started twitching as everything came back to him like a punch to the face.

"You," He said darkly, pointing at the girl with his missing arm so the gesture was instead him pointing his empty shoulder at her. "You ate my arm and leg! You bitch!" Konan stared at him, utterly lost on what was happening or what he meant while Zetsu whimpered against her chest, staring back at him with watering eyes.

Without warning, he screamed and lunged himself at the two, which was more like a tripping motion. Kakuzu easily caught him mid-fall and slammed him against the wall by the neck with his feet, or rather foot off the ground.

"I'll fuckin' kill you!" Sasori wheezed, scratching at the hand pinned against his throat while his psychotic gaze kept pinpointed on Zetsu. "I'll fuckin' kill you, you bitch!"

"Ok, I'm done." Kakuzu grumbled irritability. His morning was shitty enough without this shit making it worse.

With one hand staying on the boy's neck, he used the other to push the bedroom door open then in no gentle manner chucked him inside. He yanked the door shut behind and held it shut as the teenager screamed and threw himself against it to get out. After a few minutes, he gave up and over his enraged yelling there was the distant sound of things being broken and torn apart, likely Zetsu's possessions. Kakuzu extended his arm out, retrieving one of the chairs from the dining table and positioned it underneath the doorknob so their guest couldn't get out.

With that said and done, he turned towards Konan and Zetsu who were still awestruck by everything that had just happened. "Looks like you've made your first enemy, girl." He drawled to Zetsu.

He then turned and walked into his own room, shutting the door behind him.


	26. Arc 2: Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasori is the Akatsuki's new guest until Kakuzu can sell him off. However, that is easier said than done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Genderbend, OC

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 25**

After the incident with Sasori, Konan learned the ugly reality involving Zetsu's episodes after hunting down Kakuzu and demanding an explanation of their newest guest and the truth behind his injuries. Kakuzu had no qualms with this and described everything in gruesome detail like he had done twice now, horrifying Konan. However, it explained to her why Ryu had suddenly taken a renewed interested in having Zetsu tested and treated. Zetsu overheard the conversation regarding her crimes against humanity and cried, saying over and over again, that she was a "monster" and pleading for forgiveness. Konan did so to soothe the upset girl while Kakuzu wasn't so forgiving. Afterward, Konan returned to Amegakure, leaving Zetsu with Kakuzu but checked in once during the week to take her to her new dialysis treatment for the Mayfly. Thankfully, Sir Leader gave them the week off, given Zetsu required a period of healing for her injuries.

The day after the shitshow, Kakuzu decided to check in on Sasori who had gone mysteriously quiet. Also to restrain him since he had proven himself more versatile than the elder originally predicted. When he tried opening the door however, he found it unlocked but wouldn't budge. He tried pushing against it with no give and realized the boy had barricaded himself inside somehow.

He punched his fist against the door. "Open up, you little shit!"

"Fuck off, you old bastard!" Sasori screamed back from inside the room. Kakuzu snarled. This might've driven him into kicking the door in right there and dragging him out by the hair, but he decided against it. He rather not walk into whatever the fuck that boy might've done to the room, like boobytrapping it with his damned puppets.

"Fine, if you want to starve to death in there, then go ahead!" He didn't receive a response and he didn't argue further with the teenager as he went back to his room. Sooner or later, he would have to leave the room to either eat or bathe and it was at that point Kakuzu would wrangle him. Afterall, he needed the brat alive to sell him off for the highest price.

Later that day, there was the distinct sound of wood being broken and the wallpaper being torn off the walls inside the room. Obviously, Sasori hadn't been satisfied with trashing everything Zetsu owned and was now literally tearing the room apart. Again, Kakuzu found himself trying to get inside to stop him but this time, he was halted by a black substance leaking through the doorknob's keyhole. Recognizing it as the Third's Iron Sand, he backed off. If this kid wanted to be hungry and be in the cold by ripping down the walls than godspeed to him.

It lasted until evening then after a period of silence, there was hammering and scratching. Kakuzu didn't know what the hell this brat up to but he wanted to strangle him as the ruckus carried on through the night and kept him awake. It was so bad he compilated stealing Zetsu's pain killers as she laid peacefully asleep on the couch, oblivious to the disturbance after taking said pills. This went on for the next two days; two entire days and Kakuzu started searching for a way to get into the room besides the door. He discovered Sasori had even made the effort to obstruct the window with blankets to prevent peeking inside and hide whatever he was doing.

After the two days straight of construction work, again there was silence; nothing but silence and Kakuzu was able to breathe again. Sometimes, he purposely walked past the room and heard something faint within; hushed and miserable like a dying animal. He couldn't bring himself to care enough to try and get inside to check what exactly it was. If there was racket, it meant the little redheaded shit was breathing on and that was all that mannered to him. Besides, he had better things to do with his time; like dealing with a different brat.

He tried and failed to get Zetsu back to training, now that she had demonstrated the Mayfly, but she refused, being too disturbed by her latest incident. She fought back whenever Kakuzu instructed her to go outside to the point she wedged herself underneath the moth-eaten couch and bit at his hands like a scared feline. He quickly gave up, deciding that he didn't have the patience to deal with one brat, nonetheless two and he would wait once Sasori was gone and Zetsu was cured of her outbursts like Ryu promised. Instead, he spent the days locked in his room, reviewing the Akatsuki's finances and impatiently waiting for the inquiries from the nations to be sent in.

…

It had been five days now since the Sunagakure mission. Kakuzu had prepared himself breakfast while Zetsu left her hiding place to eat and take her medicine. Or rather, play with her food as she sat at the table, her cheek pressed against the splintered surface and bored gaze watching the sliced peaches gush back into their jar after being spooned out and dumped back.

Kakuzu glanced at her and grimaced in disgust. "Girl, don't play with your food; eat it." He told her, pointing at her with his fork and she muttered an unenthusiastic whine. Each day, she was eating less and less, and he wasn't sure what was with her. Perhaps he should speak to Ryu about it before the girl starved herself, he decided and went back to his own meal.

As he lifted a piece of salt drenched egg to his mouth, there was a sudden crash and his fork clattered against his plate. Zetsu jolted up in her chair, widened eyes darting to the source of the disruption with Kakuzu mimicking her. It was from her departed bedroom which was directly across from the kitchen/dining room area. A second later, there was another crash then another. It sounded like someone pushing over furniture.

' _Little shit must be having another one of his temper tantrums.'_ Kakuzu concluded with a frustrated sigh through his nose and tried to return to his breakfast before it got cold. However, as he was starting to learn, it was impossible to enjoy a quiet meal in this place.

A second later, the bedroom door was kicked open, unleashing a cascade of dust, except it was too thick to be dust and smelt of wood—wood shavings? The door was kicked with such strength the rusted hinges shattered the door fell down, striking the hardwood flooring with a thundering crash. Zetsu immediately scurried for safety beneath the table like a panicked rodent. While Kakuzu sat there, fork halfway to his gaping mouth as he stared at Sasori who had marched out of the room; _marched_. Last time Kakuzu checked, a person without a leg couldn't walk or nonetheless stand. It was then his eyes inched themselves downwards that he realized why the teenager had suddenly regained the ability to walk.

His trouser leg had been cut off to reveal that in his empty left knee was literally screwed a prosthetic leg. It was jerry-rigged out of splintered, discoloured wood and nails and advertised a gruesome, blood paint job. On a hunch, he glanced back up to Sasori's right shoulder which now displayed a matching, cobbled-together wooden arm splashed with crimson. It explained why the redhead had become so hellbent on tearing the room apart. He had created himself a new arm and leg.

' _Clever little shit.'_ Kakuzu huffed, throwing down his utensils.

Sasori was panting, his cinnamon orbs bloodshot with darkness staining the sockets, evidence of lack of sleep and his crimson locks were messy—messier—and greasy. His chest was bare of the medical gown he had been brought back in and was smudged with grease and dirt. Kakuzu was glad he wasn't standing close enough to smell him because after five days without washing, he was positive he certainly didn't smell like roses. The redhead flinched as he stepped forward with his fake leg, and lifted his new arm, trembling and rigid like a crank, pointing at Kakuzu with a creepy, matchstick-like finger.

He licked his cracked lips. "Where…is she?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Who?" Kakuzu answered, feigning ignorance despite the fact he knew exactly who he was speaking of.

"That bitch!" It then Zetsu whimpered from the yell and Sasori's sleep deprived eyes twitched right to her hiding spot underneath the table. "You bitch!"

Kakuzu quickly stood from his chair and jumped the table to intercept Sasori as he bumbled at her, screaming like a banshee. He caught the puppeteer by the neck and Sasori reached up to claw at his hand with his wooden arm. It was then Kakuzu saw the fingertips had literal nails stapled to them and they were tipped with purple. He quickly escaped the swipe, aware that purple colouring wasn't paint. Sasori stumbled as he was released but lunged at the older man again, scratching his brainsick limb at him. Kakuzu activated his Doton and backhanded the hand away, the impact causing Sasori to be thrown off balance and fall onto his backside. Kakuzu stood over him, bronze arm cocked back and prepared to land the finishing blow in order to incapacitate him, but he was interrupted by an unexpected intruder.

"That is enough, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu glanced up at the mention of his name and was taken by surprise to see Sir Leader standing there, ever so casual outside the basement door, and he questioned how long he had been standing there as he hadn't heard or noticed the door being opened. It had to be the first time ever he had seen the ginger outside his little office since his recruitment. The orange-haired man was far more intimidating when standing in better lighting. Instantly, Kakuzu obliged the demand and turned off his jutsu with a flick of his wrist.

With Kakuzu backed down, Sir Leader's ringed orbs stared at Sasori next. "You are Sasori, correct?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Sasori muttered, scrambling back to his feet, ever so gracefully like a newborn fawn. Kakuzu stepped in front of the table that Zetsu continued cowering underneath in case the boy tried to go for her again.

"You may refer to me as Sir Leader; I am the creator of the Akatsuki. Kakuzu told me of you. Would you kindly step into the basement and speak with me?"

"Fuck no." Sasori objected crudely and turned back towards Kakuzu, prepared for round two.

"I apologize but I must insist." Sir Leader waved his hand and suddenly, Sasori was wrenched backwards by an invisible force. He flew through the open basement door and there was a loud crashing as he was thrown down the flight of stairs like a scenario in a cartoon.

Without a word further, Sir Leader then turned and returned to his little makeshift office, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click. Kakuzu was left there standing in awestruck silence as he processed everything that just happened in the span of a few minutes. Once he finished doing so, he persuaded Zetsu out from the table and she immediately scampered away and back beneath the couch. He didn't go after her and returned to his breakfast which was cold and unappetizing by now, so he threw it out. Afterward, he stayed in the dining area, passing the time with an old newspaper until whatever conversation Sir Leader was having with Sasori was finished. He was curious what discussion was to be had with the boy but whatever it was, Sir Leader had been hellbent on having it.

An hour ticked by and then finally, the door opened again. Sasori stepped out, red-faced and obviously agitated about something. His dark-rimmed eyes flickered to Kakuzu and narrowed into a heated glare. He started walking towards him and the financier expected him to try again with starting a fight; a fight which Kakuzu would win. Though, that wasn't the case as the redhead went right past him and to the icebox instead. He opened it up and quickly grabbed everything out of it he could, including a carton of eggs and head of lettuce. With a parting dirty look, he fled back to his new room with his spoils in hand and kicked the door shut behind him.

Once whatever that was, was over, Kakuzu got up and walked to the basement to speak to Sir Leader. He was surprised to find the other man had been waiting for him as he stared at the stairwell, reclined in his chair with hands intertwined on his lap, having anticipated his arrival after his conversation with their newest addition was finished.

"Hello, Kakuzu." Sir Leader predictably greeted him.

"What the fuck did you say to him?" Kakuzu asked, skipping the pleasantries and going straight to the nitty-gritty.

"I gave him an ultimatum."

"Which was?"

"Either join the Akatsuki or be sold off."

Kakuzu found himself dreading the answer to the question he had to ask next. "What was his decision?" There was a slight twitch to Sir Leader's lips and he perceived that as his answer before the other man said anything.

"As of today, Sasori is the newest official member of the Akatsuki." Instantly, the warning signs went off as the atmosphere went blistering hot and he managed to push his chair back in the split second before Kakuzu punched his brass fist straight through his desk, resulting in wooden shrapnel and flying paperwork going everywhere.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?"

Sir Leader staring mournfully at his demolished desk and paperwork, disorganized and laying everywhere. "No, I am not kidding you." He sighed.

"Do you realize what the little shit is worth!? We'd be better off selling him off; not recruiting him! The Akatsuki is in debt because of him!" Kakuzu screamed, pacing back and forth like a caged animal and pulling on his brown locks. He was going to have a heart attack, he felt one of his hearts going arrhythmic.

"We can recuperate the Akatsuki's financial losses with future investments. Sasori was too valuable an asset to sell off in my opinion and therefore, I made the decision I thought appropriate."

"That decision was bullshit!"

Sir Leader didn't reply. He was hunched in his chair, searching through the wreckage of his station. After a minute of ransacked through the parchment littering the floor, he found he had been looking for and lifted it with a victorious 'aha'. "Kakuzu, would you kindly sign this?" He asked, holding the single sheet out to him with a pen he had retrieved also.

Kakuzu snatched the paper from his outstretched hand and read it without halting in his pacing. He immediately recognized it as something he had signed before. "What the fuck is this?"

"That is an identical copy of Zetsu's contract except for Sasori. By signing it, you agree to being responsible for his welfare which includes that no harm or death shall befall him while he is in your care and you will not sell him. Nothing is different from Zetsu's contract you signed."

"You want me to sign this and agree to babysit a second little shit?"

"Well, you do not have a choice in the matter. I just require your signature for filing."

Kakuzu paused mid-step and crinkled the paper in a shaking fist. "I'll do you one better." He whispered, ever so calmly that behind the scenes, Nagato felt a shiver run up his spine. "I quit." He threw the wrinkled contract to the ground to join the fabricated snowfall.

Sir Leader's eyebrows flew to his headband in genuine surprise at the unexpected declaration. "You quit? You cannot quit."

"Watch me." Kakuzu said and turned his back to his ex-employer, starting up the stairs.

"Kakuzu. It would be a shame if I had to make up the Akatsuki's financial losses with the gains made off your bounty." Kakuzu stopped dead on the stairwell, signifying he was listening so Sir Leader continued, leaning back in his chair and fingering one of his lip piercings, his Rinnegan staring at his banker's back. "If you recall, when I first employed you into the Akatsuki, I had you sign an agreement that if for any reason you defect or are terminated then you will be turned over to Takigakure so the Akatsuki may collect on your bounty. Last I checked, your bounty was priced at five-hundred million ryō? That could fund the organization for quite some time into the foreseeable future, wouldn't it?"

Kakuzu remained standing there even after the orange-haired man finished, making no motion to take his leave despite the consequences it brought. Finally, after a solid minute of silence, he turned on his boot heel and marched down the stairs. Picking up the crinkled record, he proceeded to punch a hole through it, the second time that day he had punched something. He then crumpled it into a ball and threw it at Sir Leader who made no attempt to dodge it as it bounced off his face and into his lap.

"There's your fucking signature!" Kakuzu snarled. With that, he charged back up the stairwell, stomping his feet so hard a few of the wooden steps cracked beneath them. This time, Sir Leader did not stop him.

"Thank you." He called after. Taking the paper ball, he smoothed it out against his knee and once he finished doing so, he realized he had nowhere to file it as he stared at the devastation left behind by this latest encounter with Kakuzu. "Perhaps I should invest in a metal desk."

…

Konan returned to the cabin later that evening to perform her daily check on Zetsu and also drop off more paperwork for her partner. When she entered his office, she was stupefied to find him sweeping up the debris of his broken desk which had its pieces stacked in the corner.

"What happened?" She asked, stepping carefully so she didn't trample the precious paper also blanketing the basement floor.

"Kakuzu wasn't pleased with my decision." Pein replied simply, leaning the broom against a file cabinet and taking a seat back in his chair for a breather.

"Which was?"

"To recruit Sasori as our latest member."

Konan gaped at him upon hearing this, dropping her arms to her sides. "Pein, we agreed that the Akatsuki could not handle anymore members due to our financial circumstances." She said, flabbergasted.

"Yes, we did. But Sasori is too prized a shinobi to sell off. I think he will benefit the Akatsuki greatly in the future."

She opened her mouth to say something, perhaps the fact she was second-in-command of the Akatsuki and she should have a say on these types of decisions before they were made, or even that Sasori tried hurting Zetsu and might do so again, being oblivious to the fact he had tried again this same day. But she didn't say anything because she knew Nagato and once he had his mind set on something, there was little to no persuasion to be done that could dissuaded him, especially when involving the Akatsuki. So, she said nothing and instead, she quietly handed him the paperwork she brought then turned to take her exit, leaving behind a bewildered Pein in her wake.

"Konan?" He asked with no answer. "Konan, would you kindly find a replacement for my desk?" Again, there was no response, but he trusted she heard and would bring something back, so he could get back to his paperwork that never seemed to have an end to it.


	27. Arc 2: Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasori is the Akatsuki's newest member and has Zetsu in his warpath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Genderbend

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 26**

Kakuzu hadn't thought things could get worse after being blackmailed into agreeing to be custodian to a second nightmare child. But, he also thought that no one and nothing could be worse than Zetsu. How idiotic he was.

Within hours of Sasori's recruitment to the Akatsuki, the redheaded boy unleashed a Hell upon the organization the likes that could be considered a one-manned Fourth World War. Zetsu was his primary target with everyone else being justified causalities. While in the organization, everyone was his enemy, not his ally.

It was the evening after and Konan made her daily check-up on Zetsu. After calming the teenager who was still considerably ruffled by everything that had happened lately, she decided to speak to their newest member. It was to introduce herself to Sasori, but also to establish to him that she was his superior as well as Sir Leader and she wouldn't tolerate his treatment of Zetsu, despite the tragedy involving his arm and leg. Her first impression of him had been soured by the bad taste of his rotten character during their brief encounter a several days ago but she wanted to give him a chance. Afterall, given his age, she considered him a child like Zetsu was. Yet, she prepared herself for the possibility of something similar as she knocked on the bedroom door of Zetsu's stolen room which was duct-taped back into the frame. A minute later, the door creaked open and a cinnamon-orb glared through the gap at the woman.

"Hello, Sasori. You and I met once before but I wanted to properly introduce myself to you now that you're the Akatsuki's newest member. I am Konan and I am the Akatsuki's second-in-command. I want—"

"Tch, so I'm goin' to be shrieked at by a harpy while in this organization? Splendid."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Ain't you supposed to be in the kitchen or somethin'?"

Konan's eyebrows crinkled in dumbfounding as her amber orbs stared at him. She wasn't so much insulted as she was flabbergasted that someone at his age could be so crude and inhospitable. "I ask you do not speak to me in such a manner."

"And I ask you to fuck off." Sasori retaliated.

Immediately, she opened her mouth to say something but then closed it as she decided against it. She heard enough and was done. So, she granted his request to 'fuck off' as she turned on her heel to leave. But not without one last punch to the ribs from the angry teenager. "Bitch."

Konan whipped her head around so quickly she was surprised it didn't twist right off her neck. She threw him a dirty look for the last misogynic remark but did little to phase him as he shut the bedroom door so she left glaring a hole into the wood. If she was a weaker person, she would've unleashed the fury of a woman scorned on him by inflicting him with a million papercuts. Instead, she took a breath to calm herself and walked away. She would be speaking to Pein about their newest addition's behaviour towards her.

With that, Konan decided that Sasori wasn't a person she was going to acquaint herself with. She had gotten off easy though and something she learned later was she hadn't been Sasori's intended target, just collateral damage.

…

It was morning after Kakuzu learned the devastating news that he was parent to not one, but two snot-nosed children and he had made himself breakfast. He ate while reading the newspaper with Zetsu seated beside him. She stared silently at her mashed puree of choice with her nose drawn up, poking at it with her spoon like it was something more distasteful than human flesh. There was the sound of a door creaking open then a certain someone screaming a second later.

"Oi! Bitch!"

Kakuzu lowered his paper to see what the redheaded devil incarnate was yelling about just in time to see something flying at him though he didn't see what it was. Instinctively, he activated his Earth Spear and held it up to shield his face. Whatever it was, it was soft as it harmlessly bounced off his arm and landed in his plate. Zetsu released a bloodcurdling scream and he glanced down at the unknown object in his breakfast. It was an orange plush cat with its head hanging by a thread, decapitated.

Sasori cackled like a hyena and Kakuzu slammed his hands onto the table, standing up. "You little shit!" But before he could grab the boy and strangle him, Sasori fled back inside his room and shut the door, leaving a steamed Kakuzu and crying Zetsu as she cradled her murdered, egg-drenched toy.

"Hush up, girl, it's just a toy." Kakuzu barked at Zetsu which just made her wail harder and after several minutes straight of this violation of his eardrums and sanity, he sighed. "Fine, fine! I'll fix it for you, just shut the fuck up!"

He kept his promise as after throwing out his breakfast because it was coated in faux cat fur, he washed off the stuffed kitty and stitched its head back on, much to Zetsu's squeals of pleasure and chatting of 'thank you' as she hugged it once he gave it back to her. Unfortunately, that orange cat wasn't the first or last plushie victim of Sasori's destruction and neither was his attacks on Zetsu for the day.

Just a few hours later, Kakuzu was alerted by Zetsu's screaming occupied by the ruckus of a struggle happening in the living room. When he ran out of his room, he found the girl restrained with Sasori on top of her and something in his hand.

"What do you have!?"

"A knife!"

"No!"

Before he had the chance to plunge the blade into the other teenager, Kakuzu grabbed it out of his hand then with his other hand, snatched the boy by his collar and chucked him backwards, off Zetsu. Once released, Zetsu fled not back to her hiding spot underneath the couch but instead, took off running right into Kakuzu's room. He didn't get after her for it as he switched his scalding gaze to Sasori who scrambled upward after striking the wall and vanished back inside the safety of his room once again. While Kakuzu failed to catch the brat again, he made sure as hell there wouldn't be a third incident today as he took the dining table and pushed it against the bedroom door so Sasori couldn't get out. Afterward, he returned to his room and found Zetsu hiding under his bed like a frightened feline and no amount of coaxing could get her out, so he left her, having it up to here with the drama already.

However, his effort to trap the redhead inside his room proved futile as later that night, he heard glass breaking somewhere in the cabin then a minute later, the front door opening so it was obvious how the boy figured out how to get out. Unfortunately, he couldn't also barricade that door.

This pattern carried out for the next several days with Sasori assaulting Zetsu at any chance he got, whether it be by traumatizing her with the desecrated corpses of her stuffed animals or physically attacking her whenever Kakuzu's back was turned for a second. It became so bad that eventually, she started hiding out in the elder's room and refused to leave except when he was with her such as for meals or bathroom breaks. Relief didn't come until Konan arrived in the middle of the week to take Zetsu to her dialysis appointment for a few hours.

After which, when Zetsu was dropped back off, she immediately sprinted back into Kakuzu's room. Something Konan found suspicious. Her suspicions grew when she saw the dining table flipped against Zetsu-now-Sasori's bedroom door. So, she decided to confront their neighbourhood moneygrubber about everything that was happening. When she trailed Zetsu to his bedroom and peeked inside, in the corner of the room she spied a pillow fort, made from the cushions off the couch with a moth-eaten sheet draped on top. Huddled inside with Zetsu who was reading the ancient dictionary Kakuzu had loaned her. Kakuzu was seated at his desk, labouring off the latest financials Sir Leader had given him to review and either hadn't noticed Konan or was ignoring her.

"What is happening?" Konan asked finally, resulting in little reaction from Kakuzu as he kept reading his numbers, taping his pen against his desk in a futile attempt to block her out.

"With what?" He inquired so she could specify with her question.

"Why is Zetsu in here? And is there a cause as to why you've barricaded the other bedroom door with the table?"

"Because that little shit is a terrorist."

"Firefly mean," Zetsu spoke up. "Hurt toys, hurt me!" She lifted up one of her plush toys as evidence and Konan saw the poor puppy dog's head was stitched on with black thread and had stuffing jutting out from its neck. The other toys laying around told the same story.

"Have you told Sir Leader?" She asked Kakuzu.

He snorted. "What is he going to do?" As disrespectful as that was, Konan knew he was right. Pein likely wouldn't do anything about it if Sasori didn't seriously harm or kill anyone or defy the Akatsuki or Pein himself. "I've got it under control. The girl is fine with me."

She had qualms with that claim, given the negative history involving the man and teenager, as she looked over at Zetsu for confirmation. "Are you ok, sweetie?"

To her surprise, Zetsu nodded and pointed at Kakuzu with her pink-casted arm. "Sir make Firefly no hurt." She knew the green-haired girl was incapable of lying so she accepted the elementary answer.

Though she was surprised Kakuzu was suddenly being so considerate to the child he once almost killed and maimed and apparently hated. Perhaps the lesser of two evils? She kept these observations to herself, not wanting to trigger the old man with the suggestion. Instead, she kissed Zetsu goodbye and took her leave.

The rest of the week went without much incident except one in which Sasori tried to sneak into Kakuzu's room through the window at night. He might've been successful if he hadn't been too loud when prying open the window and waking up Zetsu who then screamed. It woke up Kakuzu and upon seeing Sasori peeking through his bedroom window, got up and proceeded with chasing the teenager around the cabin until he dived through his own bedroom window where the man couldn't get him.

Besides that, with Kakuzu acting as Zetsu's personal bodyguard, everything was quiet.

…

Ryu was walking to his office after receiving a message on his pager which read 'Angel' meaning Konan had requested him. He was surprised, given he had just seen her a day or two previous for Zetsu's appointment and was worried that something might be wrong with Zetsu. He prayed for the best-case scenario that she was just experiencing a few bad side effects from the chakra dialysis, but he was prepared for the worse. When he arrived at his office, Konan was standing outside the door, wringing her hands. She gifted him a winning smile that could turn any man into mush and Ryu himself fought not to be infatuated by it.

"Hello, Konan-chan," Ryu greeted the woman, offering his hand for a shake which she accepted and he marveled over how soft her skin was. "I received the message you requested me. Is everything ok with Zetsu?"

"Oh, Zetsu is perfectly fine, her side effects have been minimal. I came because my partner would like to know if her condition has improved enough that she can be sent on missions again."

"Oh…" Immediately, Ryu's sunny disposition turned downcast and Konan knew by his melancholy tone and slumped shoulders that the news wouldn't be what she wanted. "I was going to speak to you about that; I just received her latest MRI results this morning. Please, step inside so we may speak in private." He unlocked the door and held it open for her to enter first then stepped inside after her.

She sat down while Ryu rummaged through his file cabinet for Zetsu's latest test results. When he found them, he placed the folder down onto his desk. "Here they are. As a reminder, here is Zetsu's first MRI," He fingered through the prints until finding the earliest dated one and laying it down in front of the orgamitress. She grimaced upon seeing the brain scan again. "Now, this one is what was taken after her first dialysis appointment last week," He placed down a new scan on top of the old one. Unlike the first one which was like a picture of the human brain that was splattered with ink, this one was a lot cleaner. The black substance infecting Zetsu's chakraways was much more deficient, perhaps a fraction of what existed before. Though, she found no pleasure in this good news as she waited for Dr. Ryu to deliver the obvious bad news. "And this is the MRI taken before her dialysis this week…" He laid down the last MRI.

At first, Konan thought he had accidently handed her a photocopy of the first MRI is was an identical to it. However, after she took a minute to observe it and pick out the subtle differences to separate the two such at the location of dots of the pollution, the horrid realization struck her as she gasped with a hand covering her mouth. "It…came back?"

Sighing, Ryu pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose as he bowed his head. "Yes."

"How? The dialysis failed?"

"I cannot give a definite answer, but it did not fail as evidence of the MRI from last week, but neither was it the result we wanted. It appears that little bit of infection we were unable to wash out was able to regenerate itself back to its original state. Because it is ungrained so deeply in her chakraways, it is doubtful we can expunge all of it at once."

"It did this in such a small timeframe?"

"Yes. Basically, I think how it is able to spread so quickly is because the infection is feeding off her unique chakra caused by her Kekkei Genkai." It was in a nutshell explanation. He didn't want to go into his lengthy thesis on how he suspected the Mayfly was, in reality, a Kekkei Genkai mimicking fungus that fed off bloodline's unique chakra. It was just a theory.

Despite this plain answer, Konan was left baffled. "It's feeding off her chakra?" She never heard of such a thing; she heard of infections which affected chakra or poisoned it but never 'eating' it. It sounded like a parasite instead of an infection. "Is there something that can be done to prevent that?"

"Unfortunately, no. It would require us to perform a chakra transfusion in which we would have to flush out all the chakra in her body then replace it with a donor's chakra, so the Mayfly couldn't function; an operation which has never been done and would kill her and the donor. Our last resort right now is to continue the chakra dialysis on her, but increase her appointments to twice a week, perhaps even three times a week. It'll keep the Mayfly's infection within safe levels and relieve the pressure on her brain, so she doesn't experience anymore episodes."

Konan rested her elbows on his desk and stared mournfully at the MRIs, sighing as she fisted her blue locks in exasperation, crinkling her paper flower in the progress. This wasn't the news she wanted to hear today but it was bittersweet. "That'll be too much for her…"

"I know…" Ryu laid a hand on her arm and gave it a consoling squeeze. "The Mayfly is such an aggressive bloodline, so our only option is be more aggressive. I'm so sorry, Konan-chan, and for Zetsu. She is one of the sweetest girls I've met."

She straightened up in her chair, laying a manicured hand on top of his hand and sparing him a strained smile. "Yes, I understand that. But, I'll do whatever I can to take care of her." Getting to her feet, she turned towards the door to take her leave but paused in the doorframe. "Thank you for everything, Ryu."

"You're welcome. It is my job."

…

Konan returned to the cabin to share the unfortunate news with Pein who was instantly wrung when his typically neutral female partner descended the stairs with a dark thundercloud rumbling over her bent head. He had sent her to receive a medical report of Zetsu's condition and it was obvious that she had was not good news.

"What is amatter, Konan?" He inquired of her, setting down paperwork on the turned over filing cabinet he was using as a temporary desk so may give her his full and undivided attention as she explained herself.

"I spoke to Dr. Ryu, Zetsu's primary. Her latest test results show the dialysis isn't having the effect on the Mayfly that we wanted, so she'll have to go to her appointments two days a week now, perhaps three."

"Oh my, it'll be difficult for her to function in the Akatsuki like that." Pein said and Konan delivered him the flattest look conceivable. Though, she shouldn't be surprised he was thinking of the organization over the well-being of one of its members. "Why had her dialysis failed?"

"He said the infection caused by the Mayfly cannot be eradicated completely and what survives is feeding on her chakra to replenish itself."

Orange eyebrows crinkled. "It is feeding on her chakra? I've never heard of a Kekkei Genkai doing such a thing," Konan shrugged and shook her head, signifying she didn't have any other answers besides that. She trusted Dr. Ryu knew what he was talking about as he was the expert and she was not. "Did he suggest if anything else could be done to contain the Mayfly?"

"The other solution would be a chakra transfusion. But, it is an impossible operation, and if it was possible, she wouldn't be able to use the Mayfly. So, the only thing that can be done is increasing her appointments per week."

"Otherwise, she would require a chakra transfusion so that the infection cannot feed and therefore spread itself?"

"Yes."

"Something this Dr. Ryu said was impossible?"

"Yes."

Pein said nothing else, instead he reclined in his squeaky desk chair while fingering one of his lips piercings, his Rinnegan staring blankly into space. Konan questioned if Nagato had lost connection with the cadaver. This persisted for a solid minute without him speaking and she decided to leave to Ame immediately to check that nothing had happened to her partner when Pein suddenly sprung back to life, making her flinch slightly from the surprising nature of it. "Konan, would you kindly bring Zetsu to me?"

"What do you want with her?" She snapped immediately, her maternal instinct triggering as she found his request of the teenager's presence suspicious considering he had never requested her personally like this before.

"Please bring her, Konan." He reiterated again, his monotone tone hardening into something more serious to hint to her he would not permit an argument over this.

Due to this, she obeyed him as she begrudgingly trudged up to the ground floor to retrieve the girl, dubious of his intentions. She located Zetsu still camped out in Kakuzu's room. Said man paid her no mind as she walked into his room to fetch the adolescent with Zetsu happily agreeing to joining her as she tailed her guardian to the basement.

"Hello, Zetsu." Pein greeted upon seeing her enter with Konan.

"Hello, Sir..." She uttered back, timidly.

"You can call me Sir Leader."

"Sir Leader…"

He twisted in his chair and gestured to the empty space in front of him. "Would you kindly come here?"

Zetsu hesitated, not stepping out from behind Konan and stared up at the woman with a curious look, waiting to be told why. Konan did not acknowledge it as she narrowed her amber orbs at the ginger, waiting for him to explain himself. Something he failed to do as patiently waited for the girl to step forward like requested, staring back with his pierced face stoic and incapable of being read.

She didn't want Zetsu getting antsy because of tension thickening between the adults nor did she want her to believe she couldn't trust Pein so finally, she nudged her while giving her a soothing smile that squinted her eyes into crescent moons. "It is alright, Zetsu, go ahead." Konan had never lied to her, so with her encouragement, Zetsu apprehensively walked through the basement and stopped in front of Pein. Even with him seated in a chair, her petite form barely measured the height of his headband.

"Hello," He greeted the girl again to pacify her. "Konan told me you are going to the doctor?"

She nodded without meeting his eyes as her caramel orbs analyzed the cracks in the cement flooring. "For monster."

"Monster?" His Rinnegan glanced at Konan was an explanation but all he got was her painted lips turned down into a sad frown that darkened her beautiful features as she stared at the child. "What is monster?"

Zetsu pointed to herself, lips quivering. "You are monster?" She nodded, watering gaze still downcast. "Why would you say that?"

"Hurt peoples…"

Pein nodded, starting to understand her childish logic now. He leant back in his chair, laying one hand on his knee while he made a spinning motion with his pointer finger. "Turn around please."

"Pein, what are you going to do?" Pein didn't grace her with a reply and Zetsu stared at her, glistening eyes silently pleading her for guidance, but Konan's faith in her partner was conflicted with her motherly instinct to shelter the girl from potential harm. She knew Pein would never do anything to purposely hurt Zetsu, but the fact he wasn't revealing what he was planning to do is what caused her skepticism. She never questioned Nagato before, so she couldn't let this be the start of it. "You can trust him, Zetsu, I promise." She inspirited her with a warm smile in order to erase whatever uncertainties she might have.

It was successful as Zetsu turned around with her large eyes never leaving the blue-haired woman. Bending over, Pein observed the back her neck, eyeballing the tattoo inked down it in thick, black letters that read '084'. He laid a hand over it and Zetsu flinched. "Now, this is going to hurt, but it'll be quick."

"Why hurt!?"

"It'll be ok, sweetie." Konan told her yet felt her heart breaking from the pure, unadulterated fear exhibited in those golden irises

"It'll be just a few minutes," Pein uttered, laying his other hand on her shoulder and detaining her so she could not break away as felt her starting to get fidgety. "I'll give you a countdown of three: three, two…one." It was then on one, something hard and burning hot was stabbed into her neck and caused Zetsu to emit a shriek so loud that dust fell from the overhead boards.

Thrashing, she tried to get away but Pein's bruising grasp kept her planted, and her hands flew up to claw and beat at the leader's offensive hands, her nails tearing skin but with no blood able to be drawn. He shot Konan a pleading glance and recognizing the silent request for assistance, she quickly stepped in. She gently captured the teenager's flailing arms and whispered words of comfort that were drowned out by Zetsu's pained wailing. As she held onto her, the macabre scent of something burning like flesh attacked Konan's nostrils and she noticed thin smoke billowing up from the back of her neck where Pein's hand was. Both struggled with restraining the surprisingly powerful girl and after a minute passed, Pein decided it had been long enough and jerked his hand off her neck with a snapping noise ringing out. He released Zetsu and she lunged into Konan's arms, sobbing against her chest and soaking her uniform was tears. It was then Konan spotted what exactly her partner had done to her.

"What did you do?" She interrogated him, addressing the black rod now implanted in the back of the girl's neck, pierced right through the zero of her old identification number.

"I performed a chakra transfusion. You have not forgotten what my chakra rods are capable of, have you, Konan?" He didn't believe she had but he decided to explain himself nevertheless. "With my chakra rod, I have injected my chakra into her and combined it with her own. With our chakras mixed, the Mayfly will be unable to recognize it and therefore cannot feed while leaving Zetsu able to use the Kekkei Genkai safely. Zetsu, you'll find your monster is gone now."

She peeked up at him with bloodshot eyes, sniveling. "N-no monster?"

"You and I share a special connection now. All long as you do not remove that rod from your neck, there will be no monster. Can I trust you to do that?" She eagerly nodded if it meant no monster but winced when the motion when her neck sting.

Konan stared at him, awed into silence at his brilliance. He had done what modern medicine could not and what medics declared as the impossible in minutes. Nagato's perseverance never failed to impress her and, in that moment, she could believe it wasn't the corpse she was gaping at but the real Yahiko. "Nagato…thank you…"

Pein held up a hand to prevent her further humbling him. "It is fine, Konan. What I do is not from the kindness of my heart but rather for the overall benefit of the Akatsuki. I cannot have a member in our ranks that is incapacitated." It was this that reminded Konan it was Nagato hiding behind the face of their old friend and her lips twitched into smile. "Now with that said and done, I would like to return to my paperwork please, if you will."

She decided to oblige his request but first, she checked Zetsu's new body modification. The skin was red and puffy where it had been cauterized to the black piercing. "Come on, sweetheart, let's take care of your neck, ok?" She said to Zetsu who didn't nod as it hurt too much and instead mewled like she did upon a time before she knew how to speak, making the woman's smile widened.

After the two females left, Pein sat back in his chair to drowse, with hands folded on his lap and eyes shut but facial features wrinkled with deep thought as he scrutinized the new chakra link with the Akatsuki's youngest member. Somewhere, in the darkness of a basement far away in Amegakure, Nagato shivered like the coldest wind had blew past him. This translated into his Deva path who shivered also. "I've never felt charka so…malicious. Why is Zetsu's chakra so warm yet so poisonous?" Nagato whispered into the dark with no answer spoken back, because there was no answer.

After several minutes, Pein's eyes reopened and he sat back up to return to his paperwork but also distract himself from the feeling of dread asphyxiating him.

It felt he hadn't just opened a channel with an innocent girl but a demon.


	28. Arc 2: Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Zetsu's Mayfly domesticated, Sir Leader decides it is the perfect time to send Kakuzu with Zetsu and Sasori on their first mission together. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Violence (Mid), Genderbend

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 27**

After weeks of being trapped in a cabin, playing babysitter to two teenagers, one of which was actively trying to kill the other and other one that required twenty-hour-seven supervision, Kakuzu had never been happier to receive a mission in his life and a break. However, he knew better than to get too excited, a testimony proven true as a second after Sir Leader told him telepathically of this new mission, he then asked him to bring said brats to the briefing also. Never again would he have any peace and quiet in this organization, he convinced himself.

Sir Leader glanced up from his paperwork which he was painfully hunched over due to his makeshift desk when he heard someone heavily tramping on the stairwell, obviously Kakuzu, followed by a lighter pitter-patter as Zetsu bounced down the steps behind him.

He frowned when noticing a lack of a certain other redheaded party. "Kakuzu, I asked you kindly to bring both Zetsu and Sasori."

"I'll get the little shit out later." Kakuzu grumbled, scratching his stitched cheek with a yawn.

While displeased with this reply, Sir Leader knew better than to butt heads with the elder man; it was like a brick wall fighting another brick wall. Instead, he switched his attention to Zetsu as she seated herself in the metal chair opposite of him, kicking her little legs that hung off it. "Hello, Zetsu."

"Hello, Sir Leader." She replied quietly, golden orbs quickly staring elsewhere in the dark basement to avoid meeting his Rinnegan.

It was something Kakuzu noticed as he delivered a hard flick to the back of her head. "It's rude not to look a person in the eyes while speaking to them, girl."

"It's alright, Kakuzu. I understand my Rinnegan is hard to look at. How is your neck doing? Is it better?"

She rubbed the stinging spot on her skull. "Yes…"

"Are you the one responsible for that ugly thing?" Kakuzu asked, observing the large, black piercing entrenched in the back of Zetsu's neck. He had noticed it earlier but never asked since he didn't think the girl could tell him anyway.

Sir Leader's lips creased into a frown again, feeling personally offended by the comment. "That _'ugly thing'_ is what preventing Zetsu from having anymore of those episodes you described to me."

Kakuzu's eyebrows flew up to his hairline. "What? How?"

The orange-haired man held up a hand. "The how is not important. Just trust me when I say this. Otherwise, I would not be sending her out on a mission, would I?"

While a bit skeptical, Kakuzu admitted he had a point despite the fact it didn't stop him before. Though this once, just this once, would trust what he said, despite the fact he had a million questions on the how. "Fine. What's our mission?"

"Nothing too complicated; a high-priced bounty from Shimogakure, the capital of the Frostlands." Sir Leader retrieved a file from his "desk" and handed it over Zetsu's head to Kakuzu. "They're having difficulties with a band of highwaymen attacking and robbing their citizens. Due to the war though, their nearest neighbour of Kumo has no shinobi to spare. So, they've contacted us instead."

Kakuzu thumbed through the paperwork, glancing over the wanted pictures of the members of this little gang and descriptions including their leader. Each one of them had a face only a mother could love but nothing else noteworthy to them as they were civilian criminals, not shinobi. "Should be easy." He said this, but he knew it wouldn't be because something would go wrong; it always went wrong nowadays.

"It should be, and the pay is excellent too. Shimo has agreed to pay us the bounty of every member taken out. If you eliminate all their members, then it should be a fat paycheck for the Akatsuki."

It was too good to be true, so the brunet didn't get himself too optimistic. "Alright, when do we leave? Immediately?"

"Please do."

Kakuzu nudged Zetsu, who had been daydreaming while the two adults spoke, for her to stand up and the two left the office. Once on the ground floor, he sent her back to his bedroom to get herself ready, so they could leave. Once Zetsu walked off to do so, now came the fun part: getting Sasori out of his room. Kakuzu started by punching his fist against the closed bedroom door in which an answer came immediately.

"The fuck you want?" Sasori's obnoxious voice screamed from inside.

"Get out here, boy. We have a mission."

"Fuck off! I ain't goin' anywhere."

No one could say Kakuzu didn't try to talk to the kid first. Stepping back, he delivered a hard kick against the door, sending it flying into the room as the flimsy duct tape holding it in the frame gave out instantly.

"What the fuck!?" Sasori shrieked as the older man stepped into the room. Now inside, he was able to perceive firsthand the destruction the teenager had dealt to the bedroom.

The wallpaper plastered to the walls was shredded and the wooden panels underneath were splintered and broken, exposing the insulation hidden inside. The broken window had a blanket hanging over it and the floor was cluttered with torn fabric that was once Zetsu's clothes and the corpses of murdered plushies. The dresser was gone, and mattress deprived of its bed frame, but a slapdash desk pushed in the corner might explain what happened to them. Sasori was seated at it and on it, was the skeletal frame of a puppet and head. Kakuzu recognized the hideous mug of Hiruko staring at him with its dagger-staring eyes. If he had purchased this cabin instead having stolen it, he would've been outraged seeing what the brat did to this room. Instead, he just questioned how anyone could live in such wreckage.

"Get the fuck out!" Sasori kept yelling, standing up in a threatening gesture that lost its intimidation factor when he visibly cringed and cradled his prosthetic knee; where it was screwed into the leg was noticeably inflamed and red.

"No, you get fucking dressed." Kakuzu countered, stepping up on the teenager and minimizing him with his much larger size. "You're going on this mission, even if I have to drag you out in your damn underwear." He pointed at the boy who currently was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers.

"I ain't doin' anythin' for this fuckin' place!"

"You should've told Sir Leader that instead of agreeing to be a member then."

"I was blackmailed!"

"I wouldn't say blackmailed so much as given a choice between life and death."

Sasori's wet face went red, or redder rather, as scowled at him, gritting his teeth to the point of breaking. "Fuck you, you ol' bastard."

"Do not think I am any happier about this than you are. If I had the choice, I would've sold you off in a heartbeat. The only value you have to this organization is with your death. Now get dressed. Otherwise, I'll have to keep my promise."

With that, Kakuzu turned and walked out of the room, surprised when the redhead didn't try and stab him in the back on his way out. He returned to his room where Zetsu was, having gotten dressed like told and was seated on the floor, loading up her pink backpack as she wrestled with getting her dictionary inside it.

"Put on a jacket, girl. We're going to the Frostlands and so it'll be cold." He told her, turning to fetch his trench coat from the closet.

"Umm…" He heard her mumble. "No jacket."

He turned to look at her, lips turned in a frown and eyebrows crinkled as he couldn't understand what she meant. She had a jacket, that ugly pink one he couldn't not remember as its offensively bright colour was permanently burned into his brain. Or rather, she had that jacket. If it was in her room, it was probably ripped to shreds now by Sasori. Because of him, Konan had to purchase Zetsu a new wardrobe of secondhand clothes with their dwindling funds, but she mustn't have gotten around to buying her a coat also despite it getting near the colder months of the year.

Turning back to the closet, he decided to see if there was something he could give her from the selection of clothing left behind from the original "departed" owner of the cabin. He didn't want her whining through the entire mission that she was cold. In the back, he managed to find a camouflage hunting jacket. It was sized to fit an adult male though, too big for her little body but it was better than nothing.

"Here, put this on." He blindly threw the coat over his shoulder which must've hit her as he heard a tiny 'oof', then returned to getting himself readied.

After he tied his bandana around his face and slid his sunglasses on, he turned around to see if Zetsu had gotten the jacket on and upon seeing her, he snorted with an unexpected chuckle. Saying it was too big for her was an understatement; it was huge. The sleeves nearly touched the ground and the jacket itself behaved more like a dress as it hung down to her knees while the hood which was pulled up, bunched over her head and masked her forehead. It was an adorable sight and Kakuzu castigated himself for thinking such a thing.

Instead, he coughed and pocketed the file inside his coat. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir." Zetsu said then tried to pick up her backpack, something she had a bit of difficulty with considering her baggy sleeves.

Taking mercy on her, he helped her with getting the bag on her back and then pointed out the door. "Go wait in the living room." She did so without question as she walked out.

Once again, Kakuzu found himself back at Sasori's door, which in that short amount of time, was pushed it back into its frame. When the man tried opening it, something was barricading it on the other side meaning the boy had set up a blockade to keep him out. He wasn't playing with the brat anymore so with little hesitation, he kicked in the door again. This time, it snapped right in half, the two pieces slumping to the floor and revealing the mattress behind it that then fell over.

"Can't you fuckin' knock!?" Sasori howled as Kakuzu welcomed himself in his room again. He was sitting at jerry-rigged desk still but at least gotten himself dressed so he somewhat listened.

"No. We're leaving now so come on." Kakuzu said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder.

"Fuck you. I told you I ain't goin' anywhere."

"That wasn't a question…"

Sasori flinched as the larger male suddenly advanced on him and instinctively, he swung his hand, bridging his chakra threads to the remains of Hiruko and resulting in it lunging at Kakuzu. Quickly, he activated his Earth Spear, swatting the emaciated puppet away. It struck the desk and its fragile frame fell apart like a block tower. He then grabbed the front of teenager's dress shirt and hoisted him out of his chair.

Zetsu had been in the living room, sitting on the couch while she waited when Kakuzu walked out of the bedroom with Sasori, kicking and screaming as the man held him in the air by his collar. When the front door was pointed at, she leapt to her feet and opened it, tailing after her custodian as he walked through first. Once outside, Kakuzu cocked back him arm and chucked Sasori, sending him flying through the grassy opening and to the other side. The boy landed hard on his back and writhed, gasping for the breath thrusted from his lungs and cradling his stinging shoulder that housed his puppet arm. Before he could recover, Kakuzu was on him again as he plucked him up off the ground. Setting him down onto his feet, he turned him around before pushing him forward.

"Get walking. We're going to Shimogakure. You should've worn a jacket."

Sasori glared at him over his shoulder, face clammy and cinnamon eyes bloodshot. "Fuck…you…" He panted.

Kakuzu was left unphased by the overused insult as he replied with pushing the boy again until he started walking. He checked that Zetsu was behind him then started walking also to start their lengthy travel from the Riverlands to the Frostlands.

While they walked, Kakuzu kept himself positioned between Sasori and Zetsu with the boy at his front and girl at his back. This was to prevent Sasori from getting to her, but also if the little shit tried to run; both things he did as predicted. When he tried bolting, Kakuzu easily ejected his hand and snatched him before he got too far and when he attempted bulldozing his way through the man to get to Zetsu, that was met with a quick kick to the stomach that successfully downed him. If anything, he gave credit to the kid's tenacity because this little game of cat and mouse went on for hours with him trying and failing dozens of times. Eventually though, he figured out that these tactics weren't working out for him and once he did, he switched to plan B: bitching.

"Are we there yet?" Sasori moaned in the loudest and most unpleasant voice ever, like nails on a chalkboard. A few minutes later, he then whined. "I'm cold!"

"No, we are not there yet," Kakuzu grumbled. "And you should've brought a coat."

"You didn't tell me I needed one! Why the hell are we goin' to the Land of Frost for anyway?"

"A mission."

"What mission?"

"Bounties…"

"On who?"

"I don't know! A bunch of highwaymen!?"

"They don't have names?"

"I don't know their names!"

This carried on for the next few hours which involved Sasori whining about everything and anything he could think of, spanning from the weather to the colour of the sky. His goal was to be as obnoxious as possible and pester Kakuzu and by god, it was successful.

Kakuzu felt his eyebrow and the veins in his forehead twitching and he clenched his fists to prevent himself from slugging the brat in the jaw. He knew he was doing this on purpose to wiggle his way underneath his skin in order to provoke him, but it wasn't helping that he already had a short fuse and was actively fighting not to let himself explode and kill the brat. If he did, he would lose his job and he wanted to keep it, somewhat liking it. Though, that testament was being challenged each and every day. Plus, he'd rather not have his head served to Taki on a silver platter.

' _I never thought anyone could be more annoying than Zetsu,'_ He thought, rubbing his temples to banish the headache lurking behind his eyes. _'At least she doesn't do it on purpose like this!'_

"I'm hungry," Sasori groaned, glancing behind at Kakuzu for a reaction. When he didn't receive one, he shouted it again, throwing his arms down and stomping his feet like a tantruming child despite the pain that resulted from it. "I said I'm hungry!"

"Fine!" Kakuzu yelled back. "We'll stop and eat!" Maybe if he fed the brat he would shut up for awhile. Besides, he was hungry himself, having skipped breakfast this morning.

Stopping, he withdrew a map from his pocket to figure out where they were; a task made difficult when Sasori stole the opportunity to pounce at Zetsu again and the girl scampered away, resulting in the two teenagers running dizzying circles around the miser. Grabbing Sasori, he threw the boy to the ground and pinned him under his boot in order to buy himself a few seconds to pinpoint their location. The surrounding green wetlands had been replaced by lush woodlands, making him believe they had left the Land of Rivers and were now in the Land of Fire. It would be awhile more until they reached the Land of Frost, but they had to take a break sooner or later, especially now he was lugging two whinging children around. He put away the map after locating an outpost a few miles up ahead where they could have a meal.

A thrashing Sasori was freed and immediately, he lurched at Zetsu who was hiding underneath Kakuzu's arm. She squeaked in fear, burying her face against his hip and Kakuzu easily backhanded the redheaded boy away, sending him falling onto his butt in the dirt, cradling his hurting nose and glaring at the man.

"Quit it, you little shit. Listen, we're going to stop for lunch so quit your bitching!" Kakuzu barked at him, pointing.

Despite his threats, he expected Sasori to blatantly ignore him and go on with his antics. To his surprise, once the brat got back to his feet and dusted himself off, he muttered a quiet "fine" and turned away to resumed limping down the dirt road, leaving behind a rather befuddled Kakuzu as he staring at his departing back. He felt something nudge him and looked down, finding Zetsu who was still using him as a hiding place as she blinked up at him with her large eyes. Sighing, he patted her on the head and kept walking too with the girl tailing him.

The trip to the nearest township was suspiciously silent with Sasori saying nothing and making no more attempts to run or attack. Kakuzu didn't know the hell was up with him all of a sudden but in the little amount of time he had had the displeasure of knowing him, it was nothing good.

…

It was late afternoon and yet, the little village of Deijī was tranquil with little to none of its inhabitants walking its bricked streets and so silent the swaying of branches and the chirping birds perched on them could be heard. The few people wandering around said hello to the trio as they passed and Kakuzu asked a random man if there was a diner or somewhere they could eat. He was pointed to a brown house with a flat roof at the entrance of the township which he walked right by. After thanking the stranger, he guided his two brats to it.

Upon entering, a plucky waitress greeted and ushered them to a table in the middle of the dining area. There was a handful of other customers eating but without the typical loud chatter other restaurants had as everyone spoke to their tablemates in hushed whispers. The aroma of cooking food made Kakuzu's stomach grumble. He sat down with Zetsu and Sasori seated from each other and he stretched his long legs out between the two, so no kicking could be had underneath the table. Their waitress returned a minute later with menus, including a children's menu with crayons for Zetsu who gasped happily as she was handed them. Given the teenager had the mental capacity and physical appearance of a child, it wasn't surprising she might be mistaken as one.

After their drink orders were taken and the woman left, Sasori snorted crudely. "Why are you so mentally challenged?" He asked Zetsu.

"Hey!" Kakuzu barked, slamming his fist on the table and causing the silverware to clatter. "Do not say that to her!"

"What? She is!" Sasori defended himself, holding up his hands. "If she isn't then the fuck is wrong with her?"

"She's…" Kakuzu started, staring at her as he tried to think of a polite word to describe her. "Slow." Zetsu looked up at him, frowning. She didn't think she was slow; she thought herself quite fast!

"Whatever," Sasori muttered with a roll of his eyes as he got up from his chair, using it as support so he didn't put all his weight on his fake leg. "I'm goin' to the shitter."

Kakuzu stood up also as he wasn't ready to let the boy go off anywhere by himself. "I'll go with you." He pointed at Zetsu. "Girl, stay here."

"Yes, sir." She answered, not looking up from the picture of a fish on the menu she was colouring in.

"Tch, I don't need you holdin' my hand while I'm takin' a piss. What are you, a pedophile!?" The last sentence was purposely said loud and the peaceful atmosphere of the restaurant was shattered into dead silence. It garnered a lot of undesired attention onto them as Kakuzu felt every other customer's curious and judgmental gazes burning through him. Being the most wanted criminal in the world, the last thing he wanted on him was attention.

Begrudgingly, he sat back down and glowered at the kid through the darkness of his sunglasses. "You little shit." He hissed through clenched teeth.

Sasori gave him the cockiest smirk conceivable and turned away, catching their waitress by the arm and speaking to her though what he was saying could not be heard. Whatever he said to her obviously wasn't kind by her upset expression and quivering lips as she answered him. He then left, presumably to the bathroom. Everyone else went back to their own business.

When she came to take their food orders, she was trembling like a leaf with tears in her crystal orbs and Kakuzu felt so guilty for whatever Sasori said to her, he personally apologized to her, claiming his "son" had a mental disorder and therefore disturbed. The explanation did little to calm her and once she was left, sniffling, he sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"Fucking little shit." He grumbled, pressing his fingers against his bloodshot eyes. He felt something poking him and when he peered through his fingers, Zetsu was staring at him, head tilted like a curious puppy.

"What 'pedophile'?" She asked him, innocently.

"You don't need to know that."

She frowned, disappointed he wouldn't tell her what this new word meant but she could look it up later in her dictionary as she went back to abusing the red crayon on the picture she was drawing on the back of the paper place mat—a rather interesting picture, Kakuzu noticed. It was a tree drawn in pink and blue with a red background with little stick people in the tree. Part of him wanted to ask what the symbolism was behind the disturbing drawing, but he decided he didn't much care to know as instead, he withdrew the mission folder to review.

Several minutes later, he glanced up and realized Sasori had yet to return. He didn't have an ounce of trust for the brat, so he decided to go check on him, even if meant dragging him out of the bathroom and being called a pedophile in the process.

"Girl, stay here. I'll be right back."

"Yes, sir."

Waving down a passing waitress, he asked her where the bathrooms were located and was directed to the back of the diner. He got up, double-checking that Zetsu would remained seated then left towards the restrooms. The men's bathroom door was shut with a light filtering through the gap beneath and when he wiggled the doorknob, it was locked.

He rapped his knuckles on the door. "Boy? Are you in there?" Silence. Scowling, he knocked harder. "Boy!" Again, nothing.

Now, he wasn't going to stand around and wait for the little shit to come out if he was even in there. Checking to see if anyone was looking in his direction, a few threads slithered out of his sleeve and poked through the keyhole of the knob, fiddling with the mechanisms. After a minute, it clicked as it was unlocked and Kakuzu threw open the door. Inside, he found nothing. It was empty of any human life and there was nowhere for a person to hide either in the open floor plan. There was a faint whistling and over the toilet was a window, wide open with the seashell-patterned curtains being sucked out by the outside breeze. It became quickly obvious to him where exactly Sasori had gone.

"You little fucking bastard!" He spat to himself and marched out of the bathroom.

Back at the table, a waitress was placing plates of food on it. "That is such a cute picture, sweetie. I love the colours." She cooed at Zetsu who said nothing, knowing better now than to speak to strangers, kept her head down as she continued doodling people in the tree.

"Girl, we're leaving." Kakuzu advised Zetsu once he returned back to the table. She gave a disappointed whine as she hadn't had a chance to taste her pancakes yet; she never had pancakes.

"You're leaving? B-But your food." The waitress stammered. "Would you like it boxed to go?"

"No, it's fine," He mumbled, pulling out his wallet and pulling out an approximant payment for the food and handing the bills to the woman. "Something came up. Girl, hurry up!"

Zetsu stuffed her picture in her backpack and Kakuzu grabbed her by the sleeve, using it like a leash as he walked them out of the diner. Outside, he searched around to see if saw Sasori lurking nearby as he was impossible to miss with his bright red hair but no one with such hair was anywhere to be seen, meaning he likely fled and was out of the outpost by now.

"Girl, where is the boy?" He asked Zetsu. She stared at him, evidently confused by his question so he decided to ask it again in lingo he knew she would understand better. "The firefly is gone. Where did it go?"

"Firefly gone?"

"Yes. Now where is it? Can you find it?"

She frowned, unable to understand why Sir wanted to find the firefly because of how mean it was but she didn't want him to get mad at her so she did as he asked. Glancing around, she searched for the firefly like a bloodhound sniffing out a suspect's scent, smacking her lips in the process. It took her a minute, but she found the firefly's dim glow in the far distance and pointed her casted arm in the direction that the main path winded, presumably to exit the outpost.

"That's where it went?" If she was correct, then Sasori was heading in the direction of the Frostlands.

She nodded with an air of confidence, and Kakuzu believed her; he didn't have time not to believe her. Sasori had a head start of them and they had to catch up to him as soon as possible before he was out of Zetsu's tracking range. With her jacket sleeve in hand, she was pulled along as he made his way down the road in the direction she claimed Sasori went with Zetsu stumbling behind him.

It wasn't until they were a distance from the town and any potential eyewitnesses that Kakuzu paused temporarily to do something that would aid their search a little better and summoned Daora. It crawled out from underneath his trench coat, stretching like a feline and clicking his beak in a yawn from its hiatus then sat itself in front of its master, waiting for its orders. Zetsu, intimidated by the heart creature, hid behind his leg.

"Daora, I want you to search for someone; a boy with red hair, understood?" Daora reciprocated him with a cawing and Kakuzu questioned if it could see colours. Now that he realized it, how did it see? Given its eyes were painted and real. That was a mystery for another day, though. "Girl, the firefly is down this road, right?"

Zetsu narrowed her eyes down the pathway, searching for the firefly's fluttering signature and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Go ahead and if you find this person, I want you to restrain them until we can rendezvous." Daora chirped and with that, turned and its pudgy body bounced off, launching itself into the sky, high over the trees and near the clouds where it could be mistaken as a bird by passing bystanders.

With Daora providing air coverage, Sasori couldn't hide if he was in the area and would be snatched up before he could get any further. He didn't want to be dawdling back here either. Zetsu squeaked when Kakuzu suddenly picked her up, gathering her up by her underarms and sitting her on his arm with her resting against his chest. With her secured, he leapt into the adjacent treeline and using his chakra to propel himself through the thick foliage, leaping from tree to tree to increase their travel speed.

He still couldn't understand why Sasori would be going to the Land of Frost without them, but his best guess was the brat wanted the bounties all for himself and Kakuzu would be damned if he let someone steal money from him.

…

It was getting late as the afternoon flourished into evening and Daora had yet to signify it had found anything nor did Kakuzu see anyone. Zetsu insisted Sasori was going the same direction as them and if that was the case, then the boy was doing a decent job at staying one step ahead of them. It had been hours of nothing and they must've traversed halfway through the Firelands to the Frostlands. He was starting to question the tracking capabilities of the Mayfly when Zetsu gasped.

"Fireflies." She whispered, pointing ahead into the darkness of the forest.

' _Fireflies, as in plural, not one?'_ Kakuzu's eyebrows quirked over his sunglasses.

Moments later, a metallic shrieking rang out overhead and Daora divebombed suddenly through the thicket, landing on a branch and leaping down into the main road below. Kakuzu slowed his pace to an eventual stop and leapt down also, setting Zetsu on her feet as he met with his air elemental. Daora franticly squawked and stamped its taloned feet, suggesting a potential threat up ahead. Zetsu claimed it to be fireflies, as in people and Sasori obviously wasn't among them. Otherwise, Daora would've attacked instead of warning them. He gave a sharp whistle and immediately the bird-like creature galloped off, jumping back into the trees to camouflage itself with the shadowy woodland, prepared to provide backup if required.

Snapping his fingers, he gestured at Zetsu then patted his hip. "Girl, stay close and stay behind me. If something happens, I want you to run into the trees; Daora will protect you." She nodded and huddled closer to him like told, grasping the back of his leather coat and staring up at him with her natural puppydog eyes. He ruffled her grassy locks to calm her and started down the dusty path. As he walked, part of him prayed whoever was waiting for them were migrants, resting their feet, but given their proximity to the Land of Frost, he suspected they might soon be meeting these highwaymen skulking about.

Approximately half a kilometer down the path was when Kakuzu spied movement on their left and saw a small gathering of men, perhaps three or four, dressed in civilian clothing and loitering off the side of the road. His sunglasses disguised his eyes and he securitized them without turning his head, so they didn't realize he was watching them. They were staring at them. Zetsu uttered a quiet whimper and he reached his arm back, wrapping it around her shoulders to calm her. She was shaking, and that told him these weren't friendly folk.

"Hey!" Kakuzu stopped as the men approached them, surrounding them in a semi-circle and it was revealed there was five of them, not three or four like he originally thought. None of them belonged to the stack of bounties he was given. "Well fuck me, the kid was right; an old man and little girl would come walking by."

"Kid?" Kakuzu asked despite the fact he knew what, or rather who he was talking about.

The person speaking, a hideous man with cracked lips that when he smiled, exhibited two rows of rotting, corncob teeth with breath that smelt of garbage. "A kid came by and told us to expect an old man and little girl and that the old man had a high bounty on his head; the highest bounty, in fact. You Kakuzu?"

Kakuzu didn't grace him with a response as his eyes narrowed and nose crinkled into a snarl. _'That little shit outed me to these bastards? What is his end game in this?'_

The other man snapped his dirty fingers. "Hey, Sho, this guy Kakuzu or not?"

A wimpy man to his left produced a little black Bingo Book and flipped through the pages until finding the correct one. "Err…I don't think so, boss, he don't look nothing like the picture." He handed it to his leader who glanced at the picture listed in Kakuzu's entry then the man himself, doing so several times as he tried to match the man to the mugshot.

"It's an old picture." Kakuzu decided to explain, knowledgeable of the portrait printed in the book which depicted him when he was a withered, old man on his deathbed during his prison days. This was before he was granted eternal youth by his Kinjutsu.

"So, you are Kakuzu?"

"Yes."

The Boss man snapped the book shut and handed back to his lackey, snickering like a hee-hawing donkey. "We just hit pay dirt, men! Kill him but do not hurt the girl; the boy said he wanted her brought back alive." The five men pulled out blades of fluctuating size and Kakuzu sighed, exasperated that these vermin thought they could defeat him nonetheless kill him.

With a battlecry, the highwaymen rushed him all together; an idiotic move as Kakuzu hardened his arm, backhanding away their weapons with the earsplitting clang of metal striking metal and sent them stumbling backwards. Two of them recovered rather quickly, charging at him again but were thwarted just as quickly when Kakuzu launched his hands and grabbed one them both, swinging them into each other. Their skulls collided with the sickening cracking of bone with blood and teeth spewing from their facial orifices and they crumpled to the ground. Their boss was the next to foolishly take the elder on head-to-head with a large machete in hand that he slashed at the other man. It was child's play deflecting the blade, however, while he was occupied with the person in front of him, he failed to notice the one flanking him until Zetsu screamed out in fear.

He glanced behind himself to see the Bingo Book man had circled them and was running at the girl huddling his leg with a pocket knife. Grabbing her backpack, he picked her up and lifted her to prevent her from being hurt but was distracted when the Boss man attacked him again. Zetsu cried out, squeezing shut her eyes and covering her face with her sleeved arms as the weasel man stabbed at her. A humming echoed out and a green appendage thrusted out from her waist, piercing through his arm and resulting in his hand automatically dropping the knife as the connecting muscles were shredded. Howling, he wrenched his arm off the flytrap tooth and immediately fled into the woods while whimpering and holding the bleeding limb. Recognizing the Mayfly, Kakuzu wasn't positive if Zetsu did it on purpose or accident but he was impressed she had used it correctly for self-defense.

Besides the Boss, there was one person left and upon seeing all the bloodshed, dropped his weapon and turned to run. Kakuzu whistled and Daora burst out of the trees with a shriek, pouncing on and tearing into the screaming man with its claws and beak.

With everyone else down, Kakuzu made quick work of their leader as a hard punch into his ugly face downed him. While the man writhed in the dirt, clenching his bleeding nose, the miser stepped over him and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him eyelevel while keeping his stink as arm's length.

"Where did the boy go?" He asked him lowly, voice calm despite how irked he was that his time was wasted with this failed ambush.

Any resistance the man might have had crumbled immediately as he trembled in Kakuzu's fist. "H-He went to Shimo."

"Did he say why?"

"H-He asked who our leader was, and I-I told him it was Kidd. H-He said he wanted to join and that's w-when he told us about you! Said if w-we killed you we could keep the bounty to ourselves!"

'Kidd', Kakuzu recognized this name belonging to one of his bounties; the man with the highest bounty. "How do I find this 'Kidd'?"

"J-Just ask anyone in Shimo!"

Kakuzu clicked his tongue. While it answered a few questions, it left a lot unanswered. He didn't think he would be getting anymore out of the play-pretend criminal though, so he dumped him roughly to the ground. "You and your men are lucky none of you have bounties. Otherwise, I'd kill you all. Now get your hideous faces out of my fucking sight."

The Boss man didn't have to be told twice as scrambled to his feet and sprinted down the road in the opposite direction, leaving his men, wounded and bleeding, behind like a true coward.

Once gone, Kakuzu turned to Zetsu, finding her shaking but unscathed. "You alright, girl?"

She stared up at him, eyes glistening with tears as her lips quivered. "Hurt…"

Given she wasn't hurt, he translated that to the other definition of hurt she used. "You had no choice. If you hadn't hurt him, he would've hurt you."

"But…"

"Girl, listen," He sighed. "There is something that exists called 'self-defense'. It's rather self-explanatory, but I'll explain it to you anyway; it's when you defend yourself from someone who intends to hurt you. He tried to hurt you, and you defended yourself which resulted in you hurting him."

"But…" She whimpered, lips trembling harder with a few tears leaking down her face. "Sir Leader say no monster!"

"Girl, everyone is a monster. This fucked up world is nothing but monsters. Instead of calling them monsters, though, we call them 'humanity'; to be human is to inherently be a monster. You have to be one to survive and sooner or later, you'll realize this too if you want to live. Sir Leader may've silenced the Mayfly's inhumane tendencies, but he cannot silence human instinct, and neither can you. It was in your instinct today that made you hurt that man, so he couldn't hurt you. Everyone is a monster but that is because we are human, including you."

Zetsu stared at him, red faced and sniffling but didn't immediately burst into infant-like wails like she did last time he gave her a speech that ended in calling her a monster. He wanted to credit himself with finally getting her to accept it, but in reality, he knew it was because her pea brain likely hadn't fathomed half of what he just said. He wasn't worried by this as he said his piece and she could either take it and accept it herself or learn the hard way. "Come on."

He whistled at Daora who stopped playfully thrashing its victim's unconscious body like a dog toy and pranced over, ripped fabric caught in its beak. After sending it overhead again, Kakuzu plucked Zetsu up again and skirted back into the dwindling treeline.

They had to get to Shimogakure soon and find Sasori before he did something else he would regret.


	29. Arc 2: Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu and Zetsu arrive in Shimogakure to find Sasori and discover he made a few new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Violence (Mid), Genderbend, OCs

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 28**

It took them approximately twelve hours to transverse through the Firelands, traveling dusk to dawn without break except to check his map. Zetsu ended up dozing off in Kakuzu’s arms, the swaying motion of his leaping from tree to tree lulling her to sleep. He debated with waking her up, so she could remain on Sasori, but now they knew definitely where he was going and with Daora in the sky, he decided to let her rest. Though, it damaged his pride a bit to be used as a pillow with the girl also held in his arms. He was thankful no one else could see him right now.

Blackness blanched into a tie dye of warm oranges and pacific blues as the waking morning sun brought rise and shine over the misty hills of the Land of Hot Water. He decided Zetsu slept long enough, having let her sleep through the night and nudged her awake. He lowered the lethargic girl to the ground and she yawned, lips curling back over her canines. Using her sleeves, she rubbed the sleepies from her honey-coloured eyes as she blinked them up at him when he paused to read the map again.

If his calculations were correct, it should take them no more than six hours to navigate the Steamlands and enter the Frostlands where Sasori had apparently gone. Daora hadn’t returned after Kakuzu sent it ahead to Shimogakure which meant it hadn’t found the boy yet. He must’ve trudged through the night instead of resting and buying them time. If that bastard back there was right though, the redhead was going to Shimo so it didn’t matter if they were behind because they would end up the same place sooner or later—or so he prayed.

Pocketing the map, he continued walking with a drowsy Zetsu stumbling behind him, grabbing onto his jacket so she wasn’t left behind. The Land of Fire’s woodlots progressively thinned out into mountainous fields and tranquil seclusion with not a township observed for miles and miles. It was a while that they trailed the deserted dirt path until any hint of civilization presented itself. The nauseating stench of manure being wafted downwind struck them, causing both Kakuzu and Zetsu to defend their noses; the obvious culprits of cows could be heard mooing as they grew closer. In the impending distance was a tiny but cute ranch. Upon seeing the black-and-white creatures, Zetsu gasped enthusiastically and went running towards them.

“Girl!” Kakuzu barked, giving chase. When he caught up to her, she was hiked up on the metal fence separating the cows from the road, hand outstretched to pet one of the cattle grazing in the field while excitedly chanting “cow” over and over again. “Girl, goddamnit, do not run from me like that!” He scolded her, plucking her off the railing by her underarms.

“Howdy,” Someone called out and a woman with powdered white hair and dressed in dirty overalls exited a mid-sized barn, sauntered towards them through the pasture and it struck Kakuzu how alike to someone else he once knew.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized to her, presuming her to be the owner of the cows. “She has a habit of doing what she wants.”

The cowwoman smiled, her eyes glistening like dazzling pink diamonds. “It ain’t nothin’. Would yer daughter like’ta pet them cows?”

“I…”

“Yes!” Zetsu answered instantly, wiggling excitedly in Kakuzu’s hands. The cowwoman’s smile brightened to a blinding degree that could’ve put the sun to shame and Kakuzu would be lying if he said if didn’t make him melt a little.

Turning around, she hollered at the bovine, clapping her hands and stamping her muddied boots until drawing the cows’ black eyes in her direction with their fluffy ears piqued. One by one, the herd curiously shambled over. Kakuzu released Zetsu who leapt back onto the pen, wavering her arms at them. He hiked back her sleeve and she petted them, giggling and muttering an “eww” when they licked her hand.  

“Saw ya’ll walkin’ up the road, ya’ll from Konoha?”

“No, just passing through.” Kakuzu answered, keeping a handle on Zetsu so the teenager didn’t take a header over the railing. “We’re from the Riverlands.”

The albino woman gasped. “Goodness me, ain’t that a long walk an’a half! An’ wit’ this war goin’ on? Ya’ll must be exhausted! Would ya like a cup o’ coffee er somethin’?”

“I…” He paused in his rejection to consider it. After the shit day he had yesterday, what was the harm in having one cup of coffee? “I would love a cup of coffee.”

“Great! Oh, I’m Hikari.” She wiped her hands off on her overalls then extended one to Kakuzu for a handshake.

“I’m…Akatsuki.” Kakuzu lied, accepting her gloved hand with his own. It was best he kept his real identity a secret, even to a random civilian.

“Akatsuki? Ain’t that an interestin’ name? Come on then!” She leapt over the metal barricade and trudged down a beaten pathway that curved around the barn.

Kakuzu let Zetsu get in a few last pets on the stinky animals before putting her down and nudging her to walk so they could pursue their host. Behind the ranch, down a way was a small cottage. Chickens and ducks walked around the building and Kakuzu had to grab Zetsu to prevent her from chasing them like he predicted she might do; a prediction confirmed when the girl jerked in his grasp upon seeing the free-range birds. Hikari kicked off her dirty boots, leaving them by the door then welcomed in her two guests. Kakuzu cleaned his boots off on the welcome mat then instructed Zetsu to do the same, using the opportunity to teach her basic manners before entering the house, the entryway opening into a kitchen/dining combination area.

“Sit on down,” Hikari said, gesturing at the circular dining table. “Would ya like meh to take yer coats?”

“No, thank you, it is quite fine.” Kakuzu replied, pulling out one of the wooden chairs and sitting down. Zetsu didn’t understand the question and therefore didn’t answer she quietly sat beside Kakuzu. He sighed at her inadvertent rudeness.

Hikari nodded and walked into the kitchen, switching on the coffee machine to reheat the brew she made this morning. “I’mma be righ’ back then!” She left, climbing up the stairwell outside the kitchen and leaving the man and girl by themselves.

While he waited, Kakuzu idly observed the decorations furbished the pink, stripped wallpaper, noting a majority of them being framed religious scriptures and polished golden crosses. While he himself was not a religious man, he didn’t pass judgement on those who were. Whatever got people through the ugly realities of life, he decided. Sometimes, he found himself praying so who was he to say anything?

Hikari returned a few minutes later. “Sorry ‘bout that, jus’ went to check on my lil’ baby boy. He’s had the worse cold this week an’ them meds have him out cold!” She checked on the coffee’s temperature which was still lukewarm and muttered to herself that it should take a minute or two more then turned, looking over at Zetsu. “In the meantime, wut would ya liketa drink, sweetie? How ‘bout some chocolate milk?”

“Cho-co-late milk?” Zetsu parroted, having never heard of such a thing.

Hikari gasped. “Ya ain’t never had chocolate milk? Wut child ain’t never had chocolate milk? It’s my baby angel’s favourite! Here, lemme make ya a glass.” Retrieving a bottle of freshly squeezed milk from the fridge and choco powder, she mixed them together in a glass then gave it to the green-haired girl.

Zetsu stared at the brown liquid dubiously and sniffed it. When it didn’t have too offensive of a smell, she hesitantly took a sip. Given how picky an eater she was because of the Mayfly, Kakuzu expected her to hate it. So, colour him surprised when she downed it all in one gulp and eagerly pushed the glass across for more, whining.

“Girl, you say “please” and ask, “may I have more”?” The elder scolded her but Hikari laughed, waving it off.

“Oh, it’s aw’right. My son is the same. He’s three an’ likes’ta speak by gruntin’ like’a pig. Yer daughter is so adorable tho’!” She made her another glass which met the same fate as Zetsu swallowed it down like a fish starved of water.

After giving her a third refill, the woman then went back to coffee again and found it to be hot. Standing on her toes, she obtained two mugs from the cabinets then peeked out the window over the sink suspiciously, searching for something. “Ya know, saw myself the most frightenin’ly large crow this mornin’! Thought it was gonna eat my chickens, I did!” She said. “How would ya like yer coffee?”

Kakuzu stayed quiet on the fact that “frighteningly large crow” likely had been Daora and it would not be eating her chickens. “Black, please.” He thanked her as she handed him one of the steaming mugs then sat down herself.

“So, where ya’ll goin’ to?”

“Shimogakure.” He answered, pulling down his bandana past his lips while keeping his stitches hidden and cautiously sipping the hot liquid. “For a job.”

“Ah, that’sa long way to go fer a job, ain’t it? But I guess ya gotta do whatcha can in this economy wit’ the war. My husband was drafted by Konoha to fight fer ‘em tho’ Yugakure don’t have nothin’ to do wit’ the war. So, it’s jus’ been me an’ my son by us’selves fer the las’ year.” She said, smiling sadly and staring at the cup in her hands.

Kakuzu admitted he found himself a little disappointed to hear she was married. Perhaps because now that he realized who she remained him so much of: it his fiancée whom he never had the chance to marry when he was arrested—Yui. “I’m sorry.” His apology genuine.

Hikari perked up, her radiant personality shining through the dark clouds looming overhead as she smiled, displaying the gap in her front teeth where one tooth had been kicked out by a bucking horse. “It’s aw’right. The war is endin’ soon an’ jus’ got a letter from my dearest sayin’ he gonna be home soon. Anyway, ya’ll should be careful up in Shimo. They got problems wit’ thieves lately. I think they musta came ‘round here too ‘cause woke up one day an’ three’a my horses were gone!”

“Your horses were stolen?”

“Yes! ‘Napped right outta the barn too! Those bastards took my prized runnin’ mustang durin’ my racin’ days an’ the Appaloosa I bought my baby boy fer his birthday. I was goin’ to start teachin’ him to ride soon too. He was so heartbroken when Marshmallow was stolen.”

The man fought back a smirk at the name “Marshmallow”. It was a name he imagined Zetsu giving something. “Did you report it?”

“Yes, an’ the gumshoes up in Yu said they’d be “investigatin’” it. I’ve had animals stolen ‘fore in the past they ain’t done nothin’ ‘bout it so I say that be bigger bullshit than wut comes outta my cows!” She gasped, holding a hand to her mouth and pink eyes large as they glanced at Zetsu then Kakuzu apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I didn’ mean’ta say a bad word.”

Kakuzu chuckled. “It’s fine, she’s heard a lot worse. While I’m in Shimo, I could look for your horses.”

“Oh? You’a detective er somethin’?”

“Something like that.” He shrugged, drinking the remainder of his coffee.

She opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by a cough that was not her own or anyone else’s at the table. Immediately, she got up from the table to go to the source while Kakuzu leant back in his chair, curiously looking pass the lip of the kitchen towards the staircase. Standing on the steps was a little boy dressed in pajamas, identical to his mother except with darker hair and eyes and holding a blanket that he quietly coughed into.

“Oh, Dawn, whatcha doin’ up?” Hikari fretted, scooping the toddler up and brushing back his silver locks from his sweaty forehead. “You aw’right?” He nodded. “Ya hungry?” A cough and another nod. “Ok, lemme start breakfast then.”

“We should be going.” Kakuzu said, standing up from his chair.

“Oh, ya’ll don’ wanna stay fer breakfast?” Hikari asked.

“I’m sorry but no. We’re behind schedule and have somewhere to be.” He snapped his fingers impatiently at Zetsu. “Let’s go, girl.”

She glanced up from her chocolate milk that of which had been savouring every delicious sip and had to guzzle down the remainder of it down before he started screaming at her. Once she wrestled on her backpack, he walked behind her, nudging her towards the door with his knees.

“Thank you for the coffee.”

“Well, of course! If ya’ll ever come back in the area, feel free to stop by fer a warm meal!” Hikari called after them as they left, waving goodbye and picking up her son’s little hand to make him wave too.

…

Getting through the Steamlands was a breeze, considering how minuscule the country was so by the time the clock struck noon, Kakuzu and Zetsu had arrived in Shimogakure.

It was a festive village as colourful lights hung from the street lamps, strung between buildings with the trees lining the streets decorated with lights and trinkets and the freshly fallen snow built into snowmen by the resident children, greeting whoever walked by with their pebbled smiles and waving sticked hands. Zetsu “oohed” and “ahhed” at the twinkling ornamentation while Kakuzu wanted to lock himself in in an office and count his money while growling “humbug” at people.

That fuckup in the Firelands said if he wanted to find this Kidd person, he just had to ask anyone for his location, so he did exactly that, asking an elderly gentleman outside a bookstore, sitting beside a display rack of books being sold for five-hundred ryō and less.

“Kidd? Now why would you wanna know where Kidd is?” He asked, puffing from his pipe and rocking himself in his chair.

“I’ve been hired to kill him.” Kakuzu explained simply.

“That so? ‘Bout time someone got on taking that hooligan and his miscreants down. I haven’t been able to see my grandchild in Yu for the last month because I’ve been too scared to leave Shimo because of them. And Kumo isn’t doing anything; they’re just compliant with going through us to get to the war and not with helping us!” He coughed, smoke billowing from his nose and scruffy lips which he waved away in a dismissive gesture. “Anyway, if you want to find Kidd, him and his ruffians are hiding out in the Caribou Coppice, the Land of Frost’s national forest. I don’t know where exactly they’re at but if you go up road they should jump at you eventually like the cowards they are.”

“Thank you.” Kakuzu said while also thanking fate that he didn’t turn into a senile old man like this person though he admitted, he had his moments.

Zetsu was looking through the books for sale, searching any colourful picture books when he grabbed her by the backpack and dragged her away to take their leave. “Wait, a minute there, son. You aren’t thinking of taking that girl with you to fight them hooligans, are you?”

Kakuzu paused mid-step, eyebrows crinkled as he stared at the “older” old man. “Yes, I am.”

“But, she’s just a child! Why would you want to subject a child to something like that? What if she gets hurt? Or worse?”

“She’s gone through the worse.” With no further objection, the two left with Zetsu scrambling behind.

While they walked, Kakuzu whistled a jumbled tune which wasn’t meant to replicate music. After awhile, something whistled back. His gaze was drawn in the direction it originated: a rooftop and Daora popped its head up. It must’ve been there for some time as it was coated in snow, using it as camouflage while it waited for its master to arrive. He searched for the nearest alleyway where privacy could be had. Daora met them inside, shaking off the white powder and plopping itself on its backside before its host.

“Did you find him?” Kakuzu asked Daora.

It made a warbling noise in its throat and tilted its head, signifying to him it had not. This resolution was a disappointment, but he wasn’t surprised, given the head start Sasori had on them to begin with, including that coffee break this morning. Though, Kakuzu could not say he regretted it. He gave the bird creature its reward for its service in the form of head scratches and it arched into his hands, purring and shaking its rump.

Once it was satisfied, which took a minute, he stepped back and muttered another name underneath his breath. Daora released a delighted shriek and its wiggled harder upon seeing its favourite mask sibling, Teo, being summoned. The two chimeras happily greeted each other with a series of squawks and yips.

“Teo,” Kakuzu addressed the fire mask once the two elementals finished with their pleasantries. “I have an assignment for you: I want you to watch Zetsu.” Teo whined, quirking its grinning face at Zetsu, having never had the chance to be acquainted with the teenager, and Zetsu hid further behind Kakuzu’s legs as the thing stared at her with its beady eyes. “Let nothing happen to her. If you are attacked or threatened, then you have my permission to fight back; do whatever is necessary to keep her safe until I return.” It acknowledged the request with a ruff.

_‘I hate admitting to anyone being right but, that old man was right. I cannot bring Zetsu with me. Not just do I not to risk learning if Sir Leader was right of her episodes being contained but also, I know Sasori will purposely target her once he realizes she is with me. It is obviously he is searching for her if what those bastards can be believed. But, I refuse to leave with her a stranger or be herself so not to repeat past mistakes. It is better to leave her here with Teo, so nothing can happen to her.’_ He thought, nodding to himself as his decision was finalized.

Grabbing Zetsu, he extracted her from behind him and pushed her towards the bear-like creature. “Girl, this is Teo, one of my masks. It will not hurt you.” Despite his insistence, she shrank away from the manifestation. Teo appeared hurt by her rejection as it whimpered. “I’ll be back. Until then, you are to stay here, with Teo. Understand?” She glanced between the lion-masked creature and her custodian, sparing him an intimidated expression. He sighed sharply. “ _Understand?”_

She flinched, hearing the impatience in his tone. “Understood…” She whimpered after a minute.

With a sigh, he patted his hip. “Daora, you’re with me.” Daora squeaked, joyously dancing in place and prancing after as Kakuzu turned and exited out of the alleyway.

Zetsu watched him walk away until he vanished around the corner, then back to Teo. It noticed her staring and borked, gifting her the ditzy smile that was permanently painted on its mask. She didn’t smile back.

**…**

“Damn, kiddo, aren’t I glad I met you!”

“Whatever.” Sasori grumbled, staring his own sickly image in the silvery reflection of the machete he was polishing with one of his poisons. Once finished, he handed back to the waiting bruiser who received it with a grin, examining the purple-painted blade before walking off so the next person in the small line could have their weapon contaminated too.

Kidd’s yellow-toothed smile crumpled from the teenager’s cold shoulder only to return a second later. “Well, when we kill this Kakuzu guy, I’ll make sure you’ll get a big payout for helping us like this! We’re going to be millionaires after this!”

“I don’t want money; I want the girl.”

“Oh right…well, you can have this girl and the money. How about that, hmm?” Sasori grunted in answer, using his sleeve to soak up the rivulets of sweat streaming down his pale face, something Kidd noticed as his smile faulter again. “Err…you alright, kiddo? You’re looking a little…sick?”

“I’m fine! Fuck off!” The redhead screamed, pointing a newly poisoned blade at him.

Leaping up, the black-haired man decided to leave the boy be, not wanting to put himself on his obvious bad side and left to do his roundabout of their little desolated cabin in the woods and check if their two targets had been spied yet.

**…**

“I’m bored.”

“Shut up, we heard you the first time.”

“Where’s Jun? He should be here by now with that Kakuzu guy and his daughter Kidd told us about. I’m freezing!”

“ _Shut up_ , we heard you the first time also!”

“I’m going to go check on the horses.” One of the three men said, hearing the equine whining and stamping their hooves as though something was disturbing them.

He trudged through the snow towards the three horses tied up to a nearby tree, leaving behind his two associates, shivering in the cold air and chatting through chattering teeth. A few minutes later in their conversation of their pending payday and other humdrum topics such as the weather when their friend came running back, looking as though he just witnessed a yeti. He skidded to a halt in front of them, hunching over with his hands on his knees and his panting leaving his blue lips in thick clouds. The other two men blinked at their gasping friend.

“You alright there, Gin?”

“Did the horses kick at you again?”

“No…I…I…” Gin wheezed. “I saw the biggest bird ever! It was huge!”

“Bird?” The two men chortled in unison, entertained by the prospect of the blonde man being scared by a bird; a “huge” bird, according to him which could’ve been something like a raven.

All of a sudden, a shrieking caw echoed out, like metal grinding against metal and made the three men’s skin go goosebumped as their heads snapped up to grey sky overhead in which the noise had originated. This huge bird flew overhead, except it wasn’t huge, it was positively massive; it was like a bear with wings. It must’ve noticed them because it divebombed right at them, squealing. They screamed and tried fleeing as the creature landed and hurdled its distended body at the nearest person in a game of cat and mouse.

Kakuzu was walking up the path when he heard the screaming and Daora’s own screaking, meaning it had found someone, or rather someones hiding out in the timberland and attacked them as instructed. He changed direction towards the ruckus. While lumbering up the incline, he discovered three horses, tied to a tree and obviously upset by the yelling happening as they whinnied and desperately yanked at their restraints to escape. One of them had a muscular build with a beautiful cinnamon coat that shimmered like bronze while another one had a white and black speckled coat to which something told Kakuzu that a little child would’ve named it “Marshmallow”. He was positive he just found that cowgirl’s missing horses. After untying them, he delivered a slap to their rear ends and horses went sprinting off, disappearing down the path he came up. He prayed they found their way back to the little farmstead in the Steamlands. He would’ve delivered them personally but at the moment, he had other matters to attend to as he continued towards the disturbance which had gone suspiciously quiet.

What he found was two men laid on the ground, disheveled with their clothing torn and bleeding with a third man being used as Daora’s plaything, crying out as he was thrashed back and forth by the bird creature like a ragdoll. Kakuzu whistled and Daora’s head jerked up. It dropped the poor man as it skipped over to its host, purring and rubbing itself against him. As he patted it, he examined the damage done. The three men, while battered and bleeding from shallow cuts caused by his mask’s beak, they were alive, just in shellshock by their bleary eyes and husky breathing. One, he recognized two as having bounties; cheap bounties but a bounties nonetheless.

So, he quickly dispatched the men, bringing his steel-toed boot down onto each of their throats, crushing their windpipes and breaking their necks with a sickening crunch and gurgle of blood. Meanwhile, with the last man, Daora grabbed him to play with, dragging him off while Kakuzu snatched up the two dead men, slinging them over each shoulder and walking off to put them somewhere for safe keeping until he finished this mission.

**…**

“Have we had any reports from Jun or Gin’s groups?”

“Not yet, Kidd.”

Kidd have a frustrated huff, flicking the black wisps of hair from his face. “We should have heard something by now. At least a signal of our targets being in the area. Something didn’t happen, did it?”

“Nahs, it would nothing our men couldn’t handle. We’ve taken down shinobi before and soldiers nonetheless! This old man can’t do shit to us.” His lackey cackled in which Kidd replied with is own smoker’s wheeze.

“Yeah right, and with this new kiddo, we’ll be invincible! And—what is that?” He asked when he was disrupted by a bloodcurdling shriek from a location that couldn’t be pinpointed as it echoed through the sleepy forest as though it came for multiple directions at once.

A large shadow swept over them and both men craned their heads upwards just as something fell out of the sky. It struck the cabin’s roof then tumbled off, landing in a heap in the packed snow a few away as both stared on, terrified, as they recognized what, or rather, who it was.

“Gin!” Kidd gasped, identifying him through the old Takigakure vest he stole off as a passing solider. If it weren’t for it, he’d would be considered a John Doe because his face was mutilated past recognition, the flesh ripped into ribbons and eyes gouged out like something pecked them out. Yet, somehow, he wasn’t dead as the man gasped through blood pouring from his lips and upon realizing this, Kidd rushed to him, crouching beside him and picking up his head so he didn’t drown in his own blood. “Gin! Gin! Hang on! Goddamnit Jean, go get someone!” He yelled at the other man, ushering him to the cabin.

Jean turned to run like told when there was that same shrieking and something big and heavy slammed right into him, crushing him betwixt its weight the cold, hard ground. Kidd looked up to find a gigantic creature sitting on his subordinate; it was bird-like with stingy wings and white, beaked face. It kneaded its victim’s back, tearing through his shirt with its taloned feet and Jean cried out as it clawed through skin also. Its masked face picked up, tilting it sideways as its painted eyes stared straight at Kidd and he felt his blood run as cold as the fallen snow. Slowly, he reached for the sledgehammer buckled to his back. Noticing this, Daora slinked itself to the ground as he crept towards him, its skeletal wings standing straight up.

After a few tense seconds, Kidd grabbed his hammer and interpreting this as an offensive action, Daora pounced at him, screaming with claws prepared for bloodshed. As it did, the felon swung his weapon, striking the creature directly in the head. However, instead of the breaking of bones and a meaty thud, there was nothing. The threading fashioning Daora’s head together undid themselves and wrapped around the mallet, swallowing it upon impact. He yanked to liberate it, initiating a game of tug-of-war in the process. After a bit of back and forth, he was declared loser as his cherished sledgehammer was devoured by Daora’s body. Kidd hated himself for abandoning his men like this, but he couldn’t save them without a weapon or protect himself from dying too, so did the only thing he could and turned tail.

As he fled back into the cabin, he kicked open the door and slammed it shut behind him, grabbing a nearby chair and pushing it in front of it to behave like a barrier; a weak barrier but a barrier nonetheless. Noticing their boss, ghastly white and shaken up, Kidd’s underlings circled him with distraught and anxious expressions creased into their greasy faces and bombarded him with questions of what happened outside having heard a ruckus and yelling.

“There’s a creepy-ass thing outside!” Kidd proclaimed to them all like a mad man. “It attacked Gin and Jean!” Chatter erupted with everyone else over his “creepy-ass creature” outside which was suddenly silenced when something shattered through the window beside the door. It slid across the floor until halting against one person’s feet. It was Kidd’s sledgehammer.

Everyone glanced up and gasped upon witnessing an unknown creature poking its white face through the broken window and staring back at them. Daora clicked its blood-streaked beak with a purr then withdrew its head as it slinked off out of sight of the window. Jean’s screaming could be heard as it resumed back to using him as its personal scratch post. Kidd felt sick as he listened to his man suffer.

Sasori saw Daora too and with his cracked lips twitching into a shit-eating grin, he straightened up from his chair, flicking his head to expel the excess moisture soaking his pale face. “He’s here.”

“Who’s here?” Kidd asked, glancing at him and then the window as his men franticly scrambled to section it off so that thing couldn’t enter through it. “That thing wasn’t this Kakuzu guy, was it?”

“Don’t be idiotic! That’s just one of his pets. If you want to kill it, I suggest hittin’ it in the head; that’s where it’s heart is located.”

“Its heart is in its face? And I tried that, and it ate my sledgehammer!” Kidd picked up his hammer, checking it over for any blemishes or bodily fluids that creature may’ve left on it. When nothing was found, he cradled it, kissing the metal mallet.

“Just do it! If you kill it, it’ll weaken him an’ he’ll be easier to kill off!”

Kidd flinched at the teenager’s yelling and while he typically didn’t take orders, especially from a kid, he trusted his instruction since he was the one which came to them with information on this Kakuzu person. Plus, whatever it took to collect this jackpot easier, he would take it. He was never a person that liked working hard. Turning, he pointed at two of his men at random and ushered them over. “Reigen, Goda, you’re with me! Let’s kill this thing and save Gin and Jean!” The two men yielded without question, drawing their poisoned weapons and providing back-up for Kidd. He pushed away the chair and with a countdown from three, threw open the door and the three of them ran outside, prepared to murder this bird-creature.

However, it was nowhere within sight as it had left Jean again, bleeding to death in the snow after cleaving through flesh and bone and into organs. He couldn’t be saved, and neither could Gin who had bled out his brain’s blood supply through his sundered face. The three others turned their head so not to gaze upon their fallen friends, sorrowful but and also fueled further to kill this beast responsible for their deaths.

None them lowered their guard, keeping clustered together back-to-back with weapons raised as they searched for its whereabouts. Then, something caught his eye and Kidd’s electric blue orbs twitched in that direction, spying something dark and large slinking around the corner of the cabin. Signaling the other men, they pressed themselves against the wall and tip-toed to the edge. Kidd glanced around it, locating the thing what was on the other side. It was doing a happy dance with its backside wiggling like a dog greeting its owner. He didn’t think anything of it, presuming it to be a bizarre ritual or celebration for its kills. Lifting his hand, he held up three fingers for his comrades and lowered each one-by-one. Once the last one was down, the three ran around the corner and charged the bird. However, they came to a skidding halt as something stepped behind the thing. At first, Kidd thought it to be a sasquatch by how massive it was, but it took him a second to realize it wasn’t a sasquatch but a person; a massive person that triumph over all three men in height, perhaps combined. The bird-like thing huddled behind him, peeping like it was snickering at them.

Kakuzu eyeballed them, instantly recognizing Kidd from his wanted poster and Kidd gulped as he felt this giant’s gaze piercing him through the darkness of his sunglasses. “You’re Kidd?” It wasn’t so much a question as much as a statement.

Kidd didn’t realize this and after a minute, he puffed himself up in attempt to make himself appear as large at the man standing in front of him. “So, what if I am? And who’s asking?”

“I am.”

“And who are you?”

“Kakuzu. I heard you’ve been searching for me.” He expected the mention of name to make the man go white or shit himself upon realization he was in the presence of the most wanted man in the world with a bounty of half a billion ryō and being responsible for the murder of Takigakure’s elders.

Instead, what he got was the exact opposite as Kidd brightened up, like a child told they can have a piece of candy. “You’re Kakuzu!?” Meanwhile, his peons gave the appropriate response and started shaking, and it wasn’t because of the negative temperature.

“You’re deaf?”

“No, but I’m going to make you dead!” Kakuzu sighed at the poor put-down.

“Whatever. Is the boy here?”

“Boy? Oh, the kiddo? He’s here. Whatcha want with him?”

“We have unfinished business.”  

“Well, you can’t have him because he’s my new best friend!” Reigen and Goda stared at him, appearing offended that a snot-nosed kid that just showed up was promoted to “best friend” in one day instead of them who had been with him since day one. “He told me all about you and prepared us to kill you!”

Kakuzu piqued an eyebrow. “That so? I’d like see that.” Daora hissed, arching its back and puffing out its tendrils to twice its size as an intimidation tactic. It was successful as the two lackies gulped, falling back and huddling together. Kidd glared at them.

“Tch, whatcha two doing!? Get up and let’s kill this bastard and his little pet! Don’tcha wanna be rich!?” He yelled at them in which could be considered the worse rallying call ever heard, at least to Kakuzu. Yet, it was enough to persuade the two back to their feet with weapons drawn without a second of hesitation as they suddenly exhibited the same pigheaded confidence of their leader. Daora snarled, stalking forward and prepared to protect its master but Kakuzu quickly snapped his fingers, causing it to backpedal back to its position behind him. It sat down like obedient mutt, waiting to be told otherwise.

While typically civilian bastards like this gave him no issue, with Sasori pulling the strings behind it (no pun intended), he knew the little shit had something up his sleeve to make them so convinced they could kill the elder. Because of that, he wasn’t going to put one of his hearts on the line like last time. If need be, Daora could provide back-up. After tightening his gloves and cracking his knuckles and neck, he stepped up for whatever scrabble these maggots wanted to give him. Kidd matched his step, drumming his fingers against the handle of his sledgehammer and grinning upward at Kakuzu, advertising his missing upper canine.

Like predicted, Kidd made the first attack, spinning and swinging his hammer at Kakuzu like a professional weight thrower. It struck the brunet in the midsection with a metallic thud and ricocheted, sending the gang leader stumbling. Kakuzu hardened his hand, prepared to punch him in his greasy little face but was distracted when one of the others leapt at him with a sword. When he swatted the blade, something splashed onto his face and his leather jacket and faintly burned his skin. Wiping it off, he inspected it and discovered it to be a purple-coloured liquid and it wasn’t jelly; it was poison.

_‘Tch, so that’s Sasori’s plan? Have these bastards poison me then go in for the easy kill? You little shit.’_ He flicked the pestiferous substance off his fingers. _‘Now I’m was glad I hadn’t brought Zetsu with.’_ With this realization though, he couldn’t hold back. If any one of these delinquents landed a single hit on him, even the slightest nick, it was game over. He wasn’t going to put himself in danger by playing with them or waste the time for Sasori to run off again. He was ending this quickly and he was ending this now. His first target was the ruffian that tried to stab him. 

Grabbing the swordsman’s dominant hand by the wrist, he squeezed it until the ulna and radius splintered, piercing through the skin and with a pained yell, the man dropped the blade. Kakuzu caught it then proceeded to plunge it into the other’s gut down to the hilt, twisting it for maximum damage and bloodshed. He fell backwards, shrieking and clenching the handle of the saber planted in his belly. When he tried to pull it out, his intestines bubbled through the hole and the gushing blood dyed the snow. If the poison didn’t kill him then that certainly would.

“Goda!” Reigen screamed at his fallen friend then ran at Kakuzu, swinging his axe at his neck. “You bastard!”

Easily, Kakuzu caught the poisoned head between his metal fingers without looking, inches from decapitating him. With a pinch, the spade shattered into slivers with Reigen left clenching the wooden handle. It was snatched from his white-knuckled hands as Kakuzu used it to crack the gaping man in the skull, sending him down beside his writhing friend. The felon turned towards them, prepared for the kill but was prevented when Kidd intercepted. He swung his sledgehammer overhand and Kakuzu used the handgrip to block it with it being sent spinning out of his hand.

“Reigen!” Kidd yelled at his underling as he positioned himself between his friends and their target, hammer held readied. “Get Goda to Shimo; get yourselves out of here!”

“But what about you Kidd?” Reigen asked, cradling his bleeding head.

“You don’t think I can’t kill this motherfucker myself!? Get outta here! Now!”

Reigen opened his quivering jaw to challenge his boss’ order, but snapped it shut like a beartrap when he realized he had to do as told when blood frothed from Goda’s lips and he started tremoring as the poison took effect. Without further question, he picked up the other man and lugged his deadweight towards the treeline. Daora squawked at the fleeing prey, kneeding the snow with its taloned feet and Kakuzu snapped his fingers so it wasn’t inclined to chase after, permitting the two men to limp off safely into the thicket. They’d catch them later.

Once gone, Kakuzu turned back to Kidd. “Hmph, so you stayed to fight while creating an opening for your men to escape with their lives. Tell me, what is your name again?”

“Tch, you got memory issues, old man? It’s Kidd.”

“Kidd,” Kakuzu nodded. “For that, you have my respect; but what you do not have, is my mercy.”

“If anyone needs mercy, it’s you!” Kidd barked.

Again, Kakuzu sighed but said nothing else, deciding to put an end to this as this guy was starting to give him a headache with his obnoxious behaviour. Once today was done, something told him he’d require an entire bottle of migraine medicine.

While Kakuzu may’ve praised this gangbanger on his dedication to his men, what he didn’t praise was his combat skills. It was like fighting a toddler with a toy hammer, if it could be considered fighting as it was over in seconds. Kidd swung his sledgehammer and Kakuzu caught the mallet targeted at his face, it just barely scratching his sunglasses. It was then wrenched from the other man’s hands and used back at him as Kakuzu landed a straight hit to the other man’s thick skull with a thundering crack, like someone dropping a watermelon from a third-floor balcony onto pavement. Kidd dropped like a sack of potatoes, eyes white and blood spilling from the crevice left in the side of his skull. Kakuzu didn’t check if that hit had killed him as, currently, catching Sasori was of higher priory to him then this man’s bounty, which was slanderous considering who he was. If he wasn’t dead, then he’d just kill him later. He whistled at Daora to stay put then marched past the corpses strewn about to the cabin itself. With the faintest bit of knowledge of Sasori, he realized he may be walking into a trap, but at the moment, he didn’t give a shit as he kicked open the doors.

Immediately, he was met with a dozen or so pairs of eyes darting to him of the dozen or so lowlifes huddled inside; sitting on dusty old furniture, leaning on walls and sitting on the ground. Kakuzu glanced through the audience of greasy faces, searching for Sasori’s hateable little face and awful red hair but found nothing, resulting in his bandana creasing as his lips quirked into a sneer. He wasn’t here, so either, he had scampered off again, or was hiding. Either or. If he wanted to find the teenagers, he’d have to start answering questions, not he thought he’d get any answers. “Alright, now, you all have two choices: you can tell the truth and die quickly, or say nothing, and die horrifically. Your choice. Now, where is the boy?”

The men exchanged glances with each other, speaking without speaking, as though telepathically broadcasting to each other a message because simultaneously, they all drew their weapons, glistening with poison, and glowered at the larger man. Kakuzu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. So, die horrifically then, was it? He hadn’t excepted anything else, yet, he was left disappointed. _‘Whatever, let’s get this over with.’_ He thought as his emerald orbs browsed this legion of simpletons, searching for the easiest method to dispatch them all in little to no time. It didn’t take him long to notice the common weakness they shared.

“Rājan…” He whispered, and his jacket rustled as Rājan clambered out, squeezing its latitudinous shoulders out from his collar. It kept itself half-tucked away, clasping its pointed fingers onto his shoulders and hunching over his head, rumbling like thunder as it twitched its head to observe each and every other person present; a few of them blenched under the oni-masked creature’s gaze. It’s black threading started crackling with electricity, causing Kakuzu’s hair to frizz from the static.  “Rājan…make it painful.” He told it and it did so, belching a thunderclap. 

Blue lightning discharged from its snarling lips, focused into a beam which wasn’t fixated on a person, but rather a thing; the thing that Kakuzu noticed every man here had: metal. It struck one man’s metal weapon and from there, the electricity jumped to every other person, all whom clenched a type of metallic weapon in hand. They screamed and shrieked as they were collectively electrocuted and because their muscles seized, no one was able to drop their weapon turned lightning rod. It wasn’t a quick death either as it took approximately over six-hundred volts to kill a person, but Rājan purposely administered a lower voltage so instead of being electrocuted, they were being barbequed as skin turned black and eyes bled red. One by one, the screams hushed and once the last person was silenced, the cabin smelt of burned flesh and black smoke billowed up from the dozen melted corpses puddled on the floor. Kakuzu gagged, thankful to have nothing in his stomach to upchuck. Satisfied, Rājan huffed and went back to sleep, leaving Kakuzu to search for Sasori by himself. It didn’t him much time to find him, or rather, any time as before he could take a single step, he heard clapping and Sasori stepped out from a back room with that shit-eating grin Kakuzu hated.

“Brilliant. I should’ve known these bludgers couldn’t off you but ain’t no harm in tryin’, aye?” The boy said, stepping over the pale ooze which once a human being like he was stepping over dog shit, casual though mildly inconvenienced.

“You seriously thought these weak bastards could kill me?” Kakuzu snorted.

“Nahs, not kill, but I was optimist they would at least get one prick on you, so I could watch you die slowly an’ painfully on the side of the road like roadkill.”

“Hmph, then collect on my bounty and live happily ever after with your new friends?”

“Tch, don’t be a drongo. It was never about the money. I just told them of your bounty, so they’d be motivated to go after you for me. I was goin’ to kill them off later, but you saved my precious time from doing so. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Kakuzu said, answer dripping with sarcasm.

Chocolate orbs glanced past him and the teenager’s grinning faulted as he realized something. “Where’s the girl?”

“She isn’t here. You’d think I’d be stupid enough to bring her when you obviously want to kill her?” This didn’t please Sasori as his happiness melted like the men dripping through the floorboards.

After a minute, he straightened up with that ugly grin back in place as he started pacing towards Kakuzu. “Whatever, I’ll just kill her after I finish with you. Have you ever seen how a dog’s tail is docked? They tie rubber bands ‘round it an’ tighten it lil’ by lil’ until it falls off. I’m goin’ to do the same with that lil’ bitch except I ain’t goin’ to use a rubber band. No. I’m goin’ to use barb wire and I’m goin’ tie it ‘round her arm an’ leg an’ watch until they go black with necrosis an’ the infection of it kills her off, slowly an’ painfully. An’ I’m goin’ to enjoy each an’ every second of it.” As he paused in step in the sunlight filtering in from a window and his appearance took Kakuzu aback.

_‘Something isn’t right with him,’_ He thought. He noticed Sasori being a bit feverish when they left but now, his pale complexion was ghastly white with bloodshot eyes, and sweat pouring off his face despite the frozen temperature. He wasn’t sick; he was _ill_. _‘What the hell has happened to him?’_ Before he had a chance to question the boy’s wellbeing, Sasori extracted a scroll from his pocket and held it out, undoing it. He bit his thumb and smeared the blood onto the parchment, causing it to erupt into white smoke. When the smoke thinned, the Third Kazekage puppet had been summoned, staring Kakuzu down with its golden-painted eyes, twitching and clattering its serrated teeth.

“Now then…” Sasori muttered breathless, lifting his arms with the Kazekage mimicking him as translucent threads glimmered off it. “Let’s end this, you ol’ fucker.”

Kakuzu sighed, exasperated. _‘So, we’re doing this again? Doesn’t look like I’ve got much of a fucking choice.’_ He held up his fists up in a fighting stance causing Sasori to smile as his challenge was accepted.

He swung his arms and the Kazekage was flung at Kakuzu, scythed arms outstretched. “I’ll fuckin’ kill…you…” His scream quieted into a whimper as he wavered on his feet, as though he had thrown himself off balance with the jerky motion. He stumbled a bit, like a drunk then collapsed. The Kazekage crashed into the floor, sliding through the flesh-coloured goo until halting inches from Kakuzu’s boot. A second later, it disappeared from whence it came with a puff of smoke and left Kakuzu standing there, stupefied. Everything just happened so fast; one minute, the brat is shrieking like a child with development issues, and the next, he was down.

“What the hell just happened?” He asked himself, staring at Sasori’s crumpled form and scratching his head. Presuming the boy to be playing possum, he waited but when a minute passed without so much as a twitch from him, the older man started inching towards him.

As it grew closer, his nose was attacked by a horrible stench; stench he recognized. It was rot, like that of flesh but it wasn’t that of the nuked bodies littered about. He gave the redhead a hard kick in the ribs, knowing it was something he couldn’t ignore and when he received no results, he leant down over him. Grabbing a handful of his crimson hair, Kakuzu picked up Sasori’s head as he laid facedown on the ground, mercifully, not in the liquefied remains of one of the bandits. His eyes were white, and jaw slacked making it evident this was real and not an act. That decaying stink was radiating off him and after a bit of searching, Kakuzu found the source. The teenager’s right arm sleeve was drenched, and it wasn’t in sweat.

“You little shit…” He snarled, letting go of his bloody locks and permitting his face to strike the merciless floor. “You let your arm get infected!? I gave you medicine! You little…”

“Bastard!” Someone behind him finished his sentence. It was Kidd, beaten and bleeding, but still alive. Like a cockroach, he was a hard one to kill. He brought up his sledgehammer with trembling arms, then down onto Kakuzu’s head with the strength of his entire, injured being with a prideful scream of, “This is for my men!”

It hit its mark as he struck the felon right on the head like he was playing whack-a-mole. However, instead of crushing his skull like a squishy piece of fruit and painting the walls red with its fluids, the mallet harmlessly bounced off. Kakuzu climbed back to his feet, facing the other man, emerald-orb flickering through his sunglasses and bronze skin melting back into flesh as he deactivated his jutsu which he had triggered when the leader ruined what little element of surprise he might’ve had with his yelling. Suffocated by the behemoth’s shadow, Kidd dropped his weighted weapon, falling onto his backside and scrabbling backwards, eyes saucered and shaking. As he dragged himself, his hand came in contact with something slimy and he gasped when he realized he gotten it in the molten remains of one of his dearest friends.

“Run,” Kakuzu told him, just one single word and Kidd didn’t have to be told it twice. Immediately, he pushed to his feet, nearly tripping over one of his men and out the door, squeaking like a frightened mohawked mouse. Kakuzu casually stalked after him.

Outside, he whistled and Daora, who had been entertaining itself by making snow angels, sat up, chirping. “Fetch.” He told it, gesturing in the direction their target had gone. In his desperate fleeing, Kidd had left a pathway straight to him in the snow. Daora was off after him like a bullet, hurdling through the ankle-deep powder and vanishing in the trees. It didn’t take long for a terrified scream followed by a bird-like shriek to pierce the tranquil atmosphere of the frosty forest; it lasted only a second and then calm returned. Afterward, Daora came hopping back with a present in its beak that it dropped onto Kakuzu’s boot. Satisfied, he gave it a lot of head scratches and pats.

Once done, he went back into the cabin and exited with Sasori’s unconscious body in hand. He handed it off to Daora and told it to take him to the hospital and Amegakure, so Ryu could take care of him. After securing the teenager so he wouldn’t fall off during the lengthy travel back, Daora fluttered into the sky, camouflaging into in the grey clouds. Kakuzu then picked up the gift it had left and started the tedious walk back to Shimogakure.

**…**

Back in the village, a scene was playing out as the resident police had an area taped off and a crowd of civilians had gathered to investigate that was happening. Turns out, Reigen had made it back to Shimo with Goda but upon entering the township, a person had recognized them as being two of the men which mugged them days before and called authorities who quickly arrived and detained the two men. Reigen was handcuffed on the sidewalk, bawling and pleading for them to take Goda to the hospital as his friend laid beside him, also handcuffed, seizing and spitting up blood as a result of the poison.

Kakuzu noticed the ruckus and joined in, his large height easily letting him peek over everyone else to see what was going on. After navigating through everyone else, he stepped behind a police officer and politely tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around and flinched back in surprise from the giant. Kakuzu handed him something wrapped in a stained blanket. “Here. Consider it a gift from the Akatsuki.” While a bit confused and suspicious, the policeman accepted it. As he pulled back the fabric, he gasped upon finding what was hidden within and his immediate reaction was toss it away. It hit the cement with a wet thud and an innocent lady was the first to see it, screaming in horror. Everyone else stared at what she was pointing at and gasped, backpedaling from it. Reigen saw it also and once recognizing what, or rather who it was, wailed out, “Kidd!” It was Kidd’s decapitated head, staring at him with its dead eyes.

The lawman started ordering people back from it, proclaiming it to be evidence while the policeman Kakuzu had given the head to, turned towards him again, deciding to question him, not through the means of words but rather but by poking him threateningly in the abdomen with his nightstick. So, the miser decided to explain himself. “The Akatsuki was hired to eliminate Kidd and his men and that is what we did. You’ll find the rest of them in a cabin up in…Caribou Coppice? Tell whoever hired us that the job has been finished and to send the payment promised.” If he was going to interrogated further on it, it didn’t happen because the police officer was pulled away to help with evacuating everyone away from the new crime scene and arrest Reigen and Goda; leaving Kakuzu to simply walk off to retrieve Zetsu so they may leave.

Unfortunately, when he returned to the alleyway, he had left Zetsu, she wasn’t there, and neither was Teo; just footprints in the snow leaving the alley. While irked, he wasn’t too beside himself because he knew that Teo wouldn’t leave her side as told and as long as she was with it, she would be safe. But, he had to find them as soon as possible because it wasn’t so much her wellbeing he was concerned with as much as his own considering Teo was one of his hearts. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought of the possibilities of where the girl might’ve wandered off to.

“Excuse me?” Kakuzu’s brainstorming was swiftly interrupted and he glanced over his shoulder to the person behind him. It was the old man from the bookstore with his pipe, smoking like a train “You’re the one responsible for killing Kidd and his hooligans?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I just wanted to thank you. It’ll be nice to take a scenic walk without being mugged.” Kakuzu grunted his gratitude and turned away to go back to the matter at hand but didn’t get much further in his thinking. “Are you searching for your daughter?”

Kakuzu decided he was going to stop correcting people who presumed Zetsu was his daughter. It saved him a lot of explaining to do. “Yes.”

“She was at the bookstore when I left to see what all the hullabaloo was ‘bout. She walked in with a beast with her too! As big as a grizzly! Is that thing your pet?”

_‘The bookstore? I should’ve known she would go there.’_ Kakuzu thought to himself, giving himself a mental facepalm for overseeing such an obvious solution. “Thank you.” He told the old man and strided off back in the direction of the bookstore.

When he arrived at it, he welcomed himself inside to search for the teenager. It took him only seconds to find Zetsu inside the bookstore, due to the size and basic layout. She was sitting at table, reading an old, tattered picture book she had taken from the sale bin, kicking her legs and humming with the music playing through the speakers. Teo was with her, like foretold. Though, being not the brightest crayon in the box it was, it had tried (and failed) to keep itself inconspicuous while with the girl. How had it done such a thing? By jamming itself underneath the table she was seated at. Problem was, Teo was big, too big to fit beneath it so here was this black creature, the size of a grizzly bear, loafing with the table teetering on its back, the legs a few feet off the floor. Everyone was standing back and staring at it, a mixture of horror and confusion painted of their faces. Kakuzu sighed, shaking his head. When he snapped his fingers, Teo picked up its head and tilted it with a whine while Zetsu glanced up from her book at him.

“Girl, come on, we’re leaving.” He told her, patting his hip.

She didn’t have to be told again as she bounced down from the chair and walked over to him with the book in hand. Teo had a harder time. It tried to crawl out from under the table without causing much a larger scene than it already had with its presence but in the process, it accidently bumped it off its back, causing it to flip over and hit a shelf. Thankfully, didn’t fall, just smacking a few books off to the floor. Oblivious to what it did, Teo then happily bounded over to its master, searching for a reward in head pats for doing such a great job at playing babysitter. Kakuzu’s lungs were getting an exercise today as he once again sighed but gave in and thumped his hand on the creature’s head, earning a little dance out of it. He then ushered the three of them out, yelling back an apology for the mess made.

Outside, his stared at Zetsu and pointed at the clearance rack in which she had gotten the book. “Put it back.”

“Oh no, she can have it,” It was the old man again, having finally limped back to the shop with his cane. “It is the least I could do for her father taking care of Kidd once and for all.”

Well, Kakuzu certainly wasn’t one to reject anything free. “Thank you.” He grasped Zetsu by the handle of her backpack and walked her with him while Teo bumbled behind. “Let’s eat.” He muttered, having not eaten since they left and wanted a little something in his stomach for the long trek back to the Riverlands.

**…**

It was evening and Hikari was finishing up her day as she herded the chickens and ducks in the barn for the night. She had seen that large crow flying overhead again. This time, she could’ve sworn it had a person on its back and she wasn’t about to risk her precious livestock with something skulking about and eating people!

After giving the last duck a kick in the butt to get it inside, she pushed shut the barn doors and locked it, so nothing could get in or out. She started back towards the house to hang up her overalls for the day when she heard something hastening down the road. It sounded to her like…hooves? Seconds later, three horses emerged, galloping down the pathway. She gasped.

“Seraphim! Valkyrie! Marshmallow!” Quickly, she ran over and unlatched the gate, leading in the horses. While spooked and hungry, they had no signs of major injuries except the hint of saddle sores from being improperly ridden. “Oh, Dawn! Dawn, come out here! Marshmallow is back! She’s back! They all back!”

The front door of the house opened as her son cautiously peeked out after being ordered inside so he wasn’t snatched up by the flying people-eater. Once he saw his horse had returned, he gasped and excitedly skipped down the steps, running over. He hugged the Appaloosa, grunting happily and giggling as the mare nibbled on his silver locks. Hikari patted her mustang, Seraphim, on the neck. “He did it; that Akatsuki man did it.” She smiled. “I’mma owe him breakfast now! Come on, Hidan, let’s git them inside the barn. Ya’ll must’a so tired an’ hungry.”

She made a clicking noise with her tongue and her son helped with guiding the three horses inside the barn for a well-deserved meal and rest.


	30. Arc 2: Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Ryu makes an interesting discovery about the Mayfly and life in the Akatsuki goes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Low), Genderbend, OCs

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 29**

Once back in the Land of Rivers, Kakuzu handed off Zetsu to an antsy Konan back at the cabin then made a b-line for Amegakure to fetch Daora and also apologize, once again, for dumping a dying teenager on Ryu’s lap. At this point, it was becoming a trend. Sasori, meanwhile, was the last thing on his mind. The little brat could’ve died on the way back for all he cared. In fact, he prayed for it, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the bushie and his shitty personality anymore. But, if his dreams came true, he’d be a millionaire with so much money he could burn it to keep himself warm in the winter.

When he walked through the drenched streets of Amegakure, he whistled a tune and was surprised when he received no reply, especially as he grew nearer to the hospital. Typically, Daora would remain in place so it could be easily found but this time, it hadn’t. He was in a stew because, it was one of his hearts and also, it possibly meant it might’ve never made it to Amegakure. It was alive, that much was obvious as he hadn’t experienced any chest pains, but if it hadn’t made it to its destination, then it could be anywhere between Amegakure and as far back as Shimogakure. First, he decided to check the hospital to find out if Sasori had even been delivered then he could search for his lost heart creature.

“Hello Kakuzu,” He was greeted by name as soon as he stepped inside by the nurse sitting behind the front desk. Afterall, he was becoming a familiar face around here lately with how many times he was in out, either for pleasure or work. “You’re here for Dr. Ryu?”

“Yes, I am. Also, was a boy brought it? Sasori?”

“Oh, a red-headed boy? Yes, he was. He was handed over to Dr. Ryu. I’ll page him. You can head upstairs.” He thanked her and started up the stairs like told, all while thinking of where he should begin searching for Daora.

Well, he didn’t have to search far because as soon as he stepped into the children’s ward, he noticed a gathering of children in the back of the waiting room, giggling and chattering while their parents stared on, slightly disturbed over whatever they were doing but did nothing as they stayed seated. And who was in the middle of that gaggle of little ones? None other than Daora. It was laid out on its back, feet in the air and wriggling as it was the recipient of many belly rubs and scratches from the laughing kids. Kakuzu questioned why the hell it was inside instead of outside like had done before and how the creature had gotten inside and a million others. His building questions were answered when Ryu exited out of the hallway and saw his old friend.

“Oh, Kakuzu! I’m so sorry. I-I saw the poor thing waiting outside for you in the pouring rain, so I invited it inside—and well, the children love it.” He explained while adjusting his glasses and beaming at the smiling faces of his little patients.

Kakuzu sighed. That explained it then; Daora couldn’t pass up on affection. At least it was here and not god-knows-where elsewhere. “Daora!” He snapped his fingers and Daora immediately straightened up, chirping as searched. It saw him and skipped over, much to the childrens’ vocalized displeasure as their entertainment left. It rubbed itself against its master’s waist, wings twitching and purring so hard it was practically vibrating after hours straight of cuddles.

Outstretching a hesitant hand, Ryu patted Daora on the rump which it evidently loved as it turned around and nuzzled its porcelain face into hand, kneading its talons into the carpet like a feline. The threading itself reminded him of yarn while the texture was silk-like. “Daora, was it? That’s a unique name.”

“Wasn’t my choice; the names came with the masks.” Kakuzu shrugged. At first, he called it “Atsugai” but a certain person whom he commissioned the masks from insisted on naming them after the monsters in a picture book the masks were modeled after, thus “Daora”. She always did have an imagination. “Now, can we speak about Sasori?”

“Oh yes! Let’s go to my office.” Ryu stopped petting Daora, earning a sad caw from it, as he turned and walked in the direction of his office. As Kakuzu tailed him, Daora returned back to its siblings. “Sasori is…an interesting case…”

“You’re telling me.” Kakuzu rolled his eyes so hard they felt whiplashed.

After entering the office, Ryu shut the door for privacy and produced a thermos from his satchel. “Would you like a cup of coffee? It’s still hot.”

“No, thank you.” After this, Kakuzu wanted to rest and he couldn’t do that with caffeine in his system.

Ryu nodded, and as he poured himself a cup, he started explaining the latest of his redhead patient. “Like I said, Sasori is an interesting case. After he was dropped off by…Daora, was it? We determined he was experiencing a high fever from an infection…”

“Because the little shit didn’t take the antibiotics I gave him.”

“Well yes, it was partly because of the amputation sites getting infected but mainly, it was heavy metal poisoning.”

“He poisoned himself?”

“Oh no, he didn’t poison himself—well, he did. It was the prothesis. Let me ask, had it done them himself or had them done by someone else?”

“Did them himself and made a ruckus when doing it.”

Ryu appeared impressed by this information as he nodded, eyebrows to his hairline and sipping his coffee while staring over his thick-rimmed glasses. “Then that explains it. The prothesis themselves had been screwed into the bone which was the cause of the poisoning because the screws themselves were not approved for surgical use. So, we had to remove them and goodness, the handiwork of it! What this boy did would take a team of highly skilled surgeons hours to do! He had connected each individual nerve to the arm and leg so to create a direct charka pathway to them so the prothesis could function like a natural limb. I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Ryu, please.” Kakuzu pleaded him, not wanting to hear this brat being praised for being so stupid as to screw a fake arm on like he was constructing a house.

“Oh sorry,” The pediatrician apologized, realizing he was “fanboying” again. “Anyway, we managed to remove both limbs after a few hours and now we have him on hard antibiotics to fight the infection. A few hours longer he may’ve died.” At this, Kakuzu cursed himself for not waiting a few hours more so the miserable little shit would’ve died. At least then Sir Leader couldn’t blame him for it because technically the brat did it to himself; suicide, it could be considered.

“So, he’ll stay here while he recovers?”

“Yes, perhaps a week? Two, maximum.”

“Thank god,” The elder muttered, just so relieved to hear he wouldn’t have to deal with the teenager for an entire week, perhaps two. It was the greatest gift he could’ve ask for right now. “Ryu, do whatever it takes to make him stay the two weeks, alright?”

Ryu chuckled. “I don’t think I’m legally allowed to do that, but I’ll try.” He was joking, of course, but he knew Kakuzu wasn’t. “So…how is Zetsu? She is due to have her cast removed now and I’d like to do one last MRI on her to check on the progress of the Mayfly.”

“She’s fine; she’s with Konan now and—”

“Oh!” Ryu proclaimed, suddenly all excited as he bounced in his chair and grasped the armrests like a hyperactive child. “Oh, speaking of the Mayfly. I wanted to show you something!”

“Ok…?” Kakuzu watched as his friend hunched underneath his desk, apparently searching for something while he was left confused on what the hell the man was so eager to show him. A minute later, Ryu found it and placed a jar on his desk, the contents of which made Kakuzu backpedal in his chair a bit. “What the fuck is that?”

“This…this!” Ryu said, proudly holding the jar up like it was his own newborn child. “This is the Mayfly!”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes! Isn’t it amazing?” No, it wasn’t because to Kakuzu, it looked like a bunch of black goo inside a container and he had a hard time being convinced it was a bloodline; _a fucking bloodline_. “Do you remember the theory I shared with you? The one in which I hypothesized that the Mayfly was a fugus and sentient?”

“Yes?” He didn’t but he wanted to get through this and learn what exactly Ryu was babbling about this time.

“I was right! It is alive! Fungus…I cannot confirm; I cannot confirm to be anything yet. I sent samples of it to a laboratory and the results came back…strange. It had high sodium, elevated erythrocytes, no floating cholesterol platelets, and traces of ammonia.”

“Which is strange?”

“For us: yes, but not for a dead fetus.”

“Where the hell did you get it?” Kakuzu asked as Ryu placed the container on the desk, pushing down his sunglasses so he could stare through the glass at the dark slime inside which, he would testify under oath, he saw moving on its own.

“When we were performing the chakra dialysis on Zetsu, this is what was washed out and I couldn’t dispose of it. I was so curious of the nature of the Mayfly so I…kept it.” Ryu proclaimed sheepishly, flushing. “For science!”

“This is what came out of the girl?” Now that he saw it, Kakuzu felt bad for Zetsu. He’d likely go ballistic too if he had this stuff growing on his brain.

“Yes, and I was right of how it kept replenishing itself.” Ryu grabbed the jar, twisting off the lid which Kakuzu wanted to tell him wasn’t a smart idea because he imagined the gunk leaping out and attaching itself to the doctor’s face like in a horror movie; he then proceeded to poke his finger inside the slime which the elder wanted to tell him was an even worse idea. Before he could do anything to stop his old friend, he noticed the goo starting to twitch then bubbled around the man’s digit like it was…it was…well, he didn’t know what it was doing.

“Ryu, what the hell…?”

“I was right, Kakuzu!” Ryu exclaimed, giddy despite the fact this ooze had crawled up to his wrist, swallowing up his entire hand. “It’s alive! Not just that, but eats chakra and uses to germinate! When I first acquired it, it was the size of a golf ball. But then, I tried feeding it. At first, I fed it things I suspected it wouldn’t eat such as a mouse and—”

“You fed it a mouse?”

“Oh well, it was dead. I didn’t kill it; I found in a patient’s room. Anyway, it didn’t take it; it spat it right out. And then I tried a piece of cucumber and then a slice of ham, but it didn’t want those either, so then, I decided to offer it my own chakra and it ate it right up! I was right!”

“You’re been feeding this thing your chakra?” Kakuzu questioned, flabbergasted the man would do something so stupid, both then and presently.

“Oh, it was just once to test and now to show you. It would be too dangerous to feed it on a regular basis because of how quickly it can grow off just a little chakra.” With that, he yanked his hand of the jar, shaking it until the Mayfly product fell off. He flexed his fingers which tingled after having his chakra sucked out of them. “Oh no, looks like I’ll be needing a bigger jar afterall.” He muttered, realizing that before the feeding, that the substance just measured the middle of the container and now after, it had already expanded itself to the top. Quickly, he twisted the lid back on, so it couldn’t escape, if it could function on its own. He hadn’t tested that yet.

Sighing, Kakuzu massaged his temples. “You’re a mad man, Ryu.”

Ryu returned his little experiment back to the drawer underneath his desk so no one could accidently find it or dispose of it. “For science; it’s all for science, Kakuzu. It was hypothesized the Mayfly developed into a brain cancer that made its hosts go insane which explained their cannibalistic habits but with this, I’ve just confirmed it wasn’t cancer but to be a bloodline-mimicking fungus! Well, I theorize it to be a fungus. Not every test is back.”

“So, what are going to do with this knowledge then? Publish a scientific paper?”

“Oh no, not a paper. Papers require sources and I cannot credit my sources because well…questions would be asked how it was I acquired all this knowledge and I cannot tell them it because I have a jar of the Mayfly. B-But I’ve been thinking of writing a book! You do not have to credit sources in a book.”

“Alright then,” Kakuzu pushed himself up from his chair to take his overdue leave. “It’s been an experience, Ryu. I’ll tell Konan to bring Zetsu in to have her case removed.”

“Please do. It was nice to see you again, Kakuzu. I’ve got this weekend off, if you’d like to do lunch?”

“Sure.” Kakuzu flicked his hand in a goodbye wave as he left the office. 

**…**

With Sasori hospitalized, it was quiet and tranquil in the Akatsuki.

Kakuzu and Konan had gone back to exchanging Zetsu as per their custodianship pact. Konan decided that Zetsu’s education was most important so she had the girl for teaching at night while Kakuzu had her for training in the morning. With Sasori in the hospital and after what happened during their last mission, Kakuzu made the decision it was the perfect chance to teach Zetsu the beginnings of basic taijutsu.

“Put the book down,” Kakuzu told Zetsu as he marched outside where the girl had been waiting and passing the time by reading her new picture book. “We’re taking a break from the Mayfly and doing something new today. Stand up.”

Setting aside her reading material, Zetsu pushed herself to her feet as told, patiently waiting for further instruction as Kakuzu stood in front of him, tapping his chin as he deliberated what to begin with. After a bit, he got where to start.

“I’ll be teaching you about self-defense. You had an encounter with it when you stabbed that bastard with your Mayfly,” Zetsu cringed, not liking to be reminded how she harmed a person like that. “So, I don’t have to explain it again to you. Now, to start, I want to test your strength; I want you to punch me.”

“What?” She squeaked.

“You heard me, I want you to punch me.”

“B-But…”

“Girl,” Kakuzu deadpanned. “You can do literally nothing to me so quit worrying over hurting me or whatever bullshit you’re thinking of right now. Now, you know what a punch is? You should’ve seen me do it plenty of times by now,” After a minute, she nodded so he pointed at his abdomen. “Good. Now punch me right here and do the hardest you can. Do it!”

Zetsu hesitated. She didn’t want to hurt Sir and she also didn’t want to be mean by hitting him, but she also didn’t want him hitting her instead for not listening, so she had no choice in this. She pulled back her arm like she had observed him doing many times before and then with every ounce of her strength, punched him the spot indicted with his finger, yelling a “yah”! to emphasize it too. Once her knuckles met his abs, the pain was instant. It felt like she just hit a brick wall. She pulled back her stinging hand, cradling it and chanting, “ow, ow, ow” over and over again while dancing in place from the pain.

Kakuzu stared at this pathetic display; if he hadn’t been watching, he wouldn’t have realized she hit him at all, that was how pathetic a punch it was. He shouldn’t be too surprised though; the girl was made of tissue paper. _‘I didn’t activate my Doton either.’_ He sighed and pinched his fingertips into his eyes. _‘Obviously, I was too ambitious with her off the bat.’_

“Girl, quit your crying, you hardly tapped me,” He barked at the teenager who was dramatically whimpering and shaking her hand like she had broken it. “Listen, your physical finance is laughable. If you got into a one-on-one fight with anyone, they’d kill you with one hit. You’re pathetic without the Mayfly. So, before I’d dream of teaching you how to fight, we’re going to have to build up your muscle, so you don’t snap at the littlest breeze. You’re going to start by running laps.”

“Laps?”

“Yes, laps. I want you to run the perimeter of this entire opening.” He estimated it to be half a ball park, in both length and width. “It should take you five minutes or less for each lap so I’ll generous and have you do only ten today.”

“Ten?” She didn’t even know how to count to the number ten yet!

“Yes. Now, go to that tree there and that’ll be your start and finish. Go on.” He gestured at a random tree and Zetsu stalked over to it, standing beside it. “On my mark, you’ll start running the fastest you can. I’ll be counting each lap you make until the last one. From five: five…four…three…two…one! Go, girl!” Zetsu started running like told, staying on the inside of the trees and outside of the clearing.

In the beginning, she demonstrated a suitable speed as she ran and like predicted, it took her approximately three minutes to make a single lap. It was only after the second lap she started going sluggish. Her sprinting dwindling into a jogging as she panted for breath and sweat dripped off her pale face. It didn’t help she was wearing the jacket he gave her because it was a little cold outside now. It took her ten minutes to complete her third lap and by then, she was tasting blood and her legs burned like she was running through fire. Pausing for a breather, she threw her asphyxiating jacket in the process, but Kakuzu was having none of that.

“No stopping, girl! You can stop when you’re done!” He barked, and in reply, she gave him a pleading look, her eyes watering and face flushed but her quiet begging fell no deaf ears. “Now start running or I’ll give you a reason to run!” He took a threatening step towards her and that was enough to send her running again—not so much running as a pained staggering.

It took her thirty minutes to make her fourth lap and an hour for the fifth. By this, her legs had cramped with charley horses making each step excruciating, so she’d take one step then have to take a five-minute break then do so again. Kakuzu became so fed up with her that he summoned Amatsu to bite at her ankles to get her going again but even that had little result as it would send her stumbling a few steps then she’d halt again. Amatsu became so bored of this that it ending up falling asleep, laid out in the trail like roadkill. After waiting two hours for her to make the sixth lap, the tan-skinned man decided to call it off and sent Zetsu back inside, a task easier said than done as it took her ten minutes just to drag herself back to the cabin.

Needless to say, he was paid a visit that night from an infuriated Konan who proceeded to scream at him for the next fifteen minutes about how Zetsu had blisters on her feet and could’ve pulled a muscle from him being too harsh on her. He just shrugged it off, muttering along the lines of, “if she weren’t so weak and pathetic…” and that had to be nearest she came to striking him; the origamitress raised her hand as to hit him but didn’t, either realizing it wouldn’t benefit her or that by hitting him, she gave him the privilege of striking her back. Either or. So, her hand fell back to her hip and she stalked off, embered orbs burning holes through him as she glared back at him. Konan’s reprimanding failed because Kakuzu continued Zetsu’s new training routine.

The next morning, when the teenager met him outside, her walking was hitched from the leftover ache in her legs and she was wearing slippers because it was too painful for shoes with the raw blisters on her feet. Kakuzu shook his head at the display with Rājan, who was present for the lesson, mimicking him.

“Today, we’re continuing your training.” He proclaimed.

“L-Laps?” Zetsu asked, milquetoast voice quivering.

“No,” She sighed, relieved, but it was premature. “That’ll be tomorrow. No, you’re going to learn basic workout techniques today: crunches, push-ups, squats, the such. After that warm-up, you’ll be practicing your punches. Stand up.” She did so, cringing as just standing hurt. “We’ll start with push-ups. I’ll show you how to properly do it and then I want you to do it also. Understand?”

“Understood…”

He had to admit, it had been awhile since he did any of this, a cruel reminder as after just one push-up, he felt a tingling in his muscles. Perhaps he should start his own training regimen, so he didn’t go all weaksauce like Zetsu. After he finished his demonstration, he helped the girl with getting laid out in the correct position, so she didn’t hurt anything else. “Alright, now as I did, push yourself using your arms; do not use your legs!” As Zetsu pushed herself up, her delicate arms trembled like branches threatening to snap and it took a few seconds to get herself up, after which, she didn’t lower herself as much as faceplant into the ground, laying in the dirt like she suddenly had a heart attack. It was pathetic, but it was a push-up; a pathetic push-up. “That’s one, now give me nine more.” Immediately, her dirt-smeared face picked up as she stared at him wide-eyed. Nine!? She didn’t know how to count to nine either! Was that more or less than ten?

He noticed her looking at him like he hadn’t just asked her to do basic push-ups but walk through Hell and back. “Girl, you might not believe this, but I’m doing this for your own good. As you are, you wouldn’t live through one mission once Sir Leader starts sending you on your own. It’ll get easier. Now quit whining and do it! We’ve got a lot to do today so let’s not waste all day like yesterday!” Well, it wasn’t like she had any choice, so she did it.

Afterward, he had her do ten crunches then ten squats and ten jumping jacks and it was like, a bijillion tens! Once she did everything, her legs hurt, her arms hurt, her tummy hurt, everything hurt! She wanted to take a nap or read; anything but this! She didn’t like this. But Sir said no. At least he didn’t make her run again.

“Get up, girl, you’re going to practice punching now.” After a bit of flipping and flopping like a beached fish, she managed to get herself straightened up with her knees hitting each other like a plastic clanker toy. “Rājan.” Kakuzu gestured over his heart and as it stepped over from the background where it had been silently observing everything, Zetsu fell back down in the presence of the oni-masked creature which dwarfed the massive Kakuzu himself frightened her. He wanted to tell it to quit intimidating the skittish girl, but it wasn’t like it could do that given this was how it was made. Instead, he just snapped his fingers at her until she got back up.

“Rājan is going to be your practice partner. I’d do it myself if I wasn’t so positive I could kill you with one punch. Now, hit Rājan, the hardest you can like you did with me yesterday, and I’ll correct you.” Rājan hunched over, holding out its hand so she had a target. After much hesitancy, she finally went through and punched it as told. Like yesterday, she pulled back, shaking her hand and whining as pain pulsated from her hand and to her elbow. Rājan snorted as her weakness considering it had slacked its threading as it had the constancy of a pillow and should have done nothing to hurt her.   

Kakuzu gave an exasperated sigh, massaging his temples. “Fuck…where do I start with that?” He asked himself. He didn’t know so he decided to show her instead as he stepped over and took her arm. “First off, do _not_ tuck your thumb inside your fist unless you want to break it; lay it on your first two fingers. Second, do _not_ straighten your arm out so much because you’re going to break it. When you punch, use your shoulder, _not_ the arm itself. Let yourself be carried with your fist so your weight is behind it for maximum strength. Lastly, hit with your first two knuckles, _not_ all or your last two unless, yet again, you want to break your hand.” After correcting her hand and posture, he stepped back, signaling for her to do it again. She did, doing everything he told her to and discovered, much to her amazement, that it hadn’t hurt this time. Sure, it hurt but it was like a bumping her hand into a wall instead punching said wall. “See? Didn’t hurt, did it?”

Given how easily fascinated she was, Zetsu shook her hand and stared at her hand as though it changed physically between punches. It hadn’t, but it felt like it to her. “Good, now do it fifty times.” And her temporary pride in herself was shattered as she gaped at him like a cartoon character with their jaw on the floor. Fifty!? Was that even a number!? It sounded like a food! A food she didn’t want to eat either. “Girl, I suggest doing it or, I’ll tell Konan you’ve been bad.”

“No!” She cried out. Anything but that! If Sir told Konan she was bad, then she’d be so sad, and she didn’t want her to be sad.

“Then get on with it. Perhaps, if you’re done early, you can finish those laps you didn’t do yesterday.”

At the end of the day, she didn’t finish those laps nor the fifty punches because after the twentieth one, it was a replay of the day before with her moaning and groaning and Kakuzu realized there was a lot of work to be done with her; so, so much work.


	31. Arc 2: Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasori returns from the hospital and discovers Zetsu isn't the pushover last he picked on her. Also, Sir Leader hints the future for the organization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'll be replying to reviews in the beginning of each new chapter so I do not inflate my review count.
> 
> misCOWculation: Thank you so much for my first review on this website! Your review brought a smile to my face. I'm glad that my OCs aren't horrible and I'm perfectly characterizing everyone like I want (yes, I want Sasori to be a whiny little asshole, haha). Also, I thought my fight scenes were rubbish but I'm glad to hear they're not! I'll make sure to double-check my grammar and spelling more. I write a lot faster than my brain can handle, haha. And don't fret, this story will be blood-soaked, muhaha.
> 
> Warning(s): Language (Mid), Blood/Violence (Low), Genderbend, OCs

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 30**

Kakuzu was standing in the background as he observed Zetsu bobbing and weaving through Rājan’s punches then delivering her own like a professional. It was incredible what a few weeks of practice (and threats of physical harm) could do.

Little by little, her tears dried up and the whimpering quieted down. Perhaps because she realized she wasn’t getting out of this, or because everytime she started up, he gave her a slap on the head and criticized her. He wanted to kill this habit of hers now because in his opinion, nothing was more pathetic than a crybaby shinobi.

“Sniveling isn’t going to garner your enemies’ pity, it’ll make them take pleasure in hurting you further and killing you.” He chided her while she was on her backside, cradling her aching head from failing to duck a punch from Rājan then being struck by Kakuzu for said blunder. Sniffing, she nodded and got back up, wiping away tears. He gone from swatting her perhaps four or five times to once or twice a day. Mainly because she had her nose buried in a book when her break was over.

Day by day, her performance improved too as she ran her laps, mercifully decreased from ten to five, and did her warm-ups. He admitted, he may’ve influenced it. When he learned Konan purchased a provision of chocolate milk for Zetsu, since it was the only thing the teenager ingested nowadays, he went out and bought protein powder that he secretly laced the bottles with to promote her muscle growth. It was successful as he noticed her twig-like arms developing mass between the supplements and exercise.

Zetsu had gone from a weak crybaby to a not-as-weak crybaby. It was progress, but she had a long way to go yet.

Unfortunately, not everything could be corrected so easily and she a lot of habits he wanted to break. One of which was her terrible concentration. She had the five-second attention span of a goldfish. A twig could snap in the distance or a bug flutter by and suddenly, that was all she wanted to fixate on for the next five minutes. It resulted in a few painful lessons such as, not turning your back to an enemy as Rājan didn’t stop in its offense and punched her in the face. Today, that lesson was taught once again because suddenly, Zetsu went from being invested in her training with the creature to turning her back to it as she gaped at something in the thicket. This resulted in Rājan punching her in the back of the head and sending her facedown into the dirt.

“Girl! What have I told you about turning your back to an enemy?” Kakuzu barked at her, feeling like a broken record considering he had told her this at least a dozen times by now.

She pushed herself back up, dusting herself off and rubbing her pounding skull. “Sorry!” She called back then went bouncing towards the treeline. It was then he saw what it was this time that distracted her so as Konan stepped out from between the trees. The woman had little time to prepare herself when the teenager practically launched herself into her arms while happily squeaking her name.

“Hello to you too, Zetsu,” Konan greeted her, smiling and affectionately kissing her cheek. Despite having seen her the night previous for teaching, it always brightened her day whenever she got to see the girl.

“What are you doing here? I have the girl until the evening.” Kakuzu interrogated the origamitress as he walked up with his muscled arms folded.

Konan put down Zetsu. “I’m not here to take her from you,” She said, oozing sarcasm to which he grunted. “I’m here because I spoke with Dr. Ryu and he wanted me to tell you that Sasori is ready to be discharged.”

He piqued a brow. “You spoke with Ryu?”

“I went to the hospital to pick up Zetsu’s latest MRI results,” She held up the folder in her hand as evidence then crouched down to be eyelevel with Zetsu, displaying her perfect teeth in a smile again. “Speaking of which, the Mayfly hasn’t gotten worse; your monster is gone, Zetsu!”

Zetsu gasped. “Monster is gone!?”

“Yes!”

The green-haired girl squealed and, in her excitement, threw herself back at Konan who hugged her tightly, borderline squeezing her in her own jubilation with the outstanding news. Meanwhile, Kakuzu observed the two females from the sidelines, the tender moment having little effect on his frigid heart. After a minute of this, his stomach felt ill from the sickly sugary moment, so he decided to take his leave.

“I’ll go get the boy.” Just saying that made him want to vomit too. If he had his way, he’d just leave Sasori there until he died of old age.

“I already tried to convince Ryu to keep him, but he said he couldn’t do that,” Konan mentioned, genuine disappointment threaded in her tone, surprising Kakuzu she did such a thing. Given her temperament towards Zetsu because her tender age, he presumed it was the same with Sasori. But he’d be more surprised if the woman did like him considering how horrible a human being he was. For once, they saw eye-to-eye on something. “I’ll watch Zetsu until you get back. I have to speak to Sir Leader anyway.”

“Fine. But when I get back, we’re going back to training, girl. Because you made the idiotic choice of turning your back on an enemy, _again,_ I’m having you start over: one-hundred punches again!”

“No!” Zetsu moaned. It took her hours to get to fifty and her arms felt like ramen noodles!

“You’re pushing her too hard.” Mother Bear Konan predictably snarled.

“You make her read one-hundred pages for homework. What is the difference?” Kakuzu retaliated.

“She likes reading!”

“She likes training too!”

“No, she doesn’t!”

“Umm…” Zetsu peeped in, quietly, twiddling her thumbs. “I like…I like the push-ups…”

“Ha!” Kakuzu barked.

“But you like reading better, right?” Konan asked Zetsu.

“Yes!”

“Ha!” Konan barked back.

Kakuzu grumbled to himself, turning his head up. “Whatever. I’ll go get the boy; I’ll be back soon so don’t get comfortable, girl.” His warning fell on deaf ears though as Zetsu was out of earshot, skipping behind Konan as the blue-haired woman walked to the cabin. He just gave it up and started the trek through the Marshlands to Amegakure.

**…**

When Kakuzu arrived at the hospital and saw Ryu, he’d be forgiven for thinking the doctor walking towards him in the waiting room was someone else. While it was Ryu in appearance with his oversized glasses and stubbled facial hair, their behavior was nothing like him; Ryu was bubbly and had the sunniest disposition while this person was a walking rain cloud. It wasn’t until he spoke that Kakuzu realized it was his old friend and not a depressed doppelganger.

“Ryu, what happened to you?” He asked the other man who had the impression of a shinobi which survives the horrors of war with his disheveled appearance of tangled hair and crinkled lab coat.

“Oh…it’s been a hard last two weeks,” Ryu sighed in a defeated tone, trying to straighten out his crumpled scrubs underneath.

“Sasori?”

“Well…I’m not a person which speaks ill of my patients, but I’ll say this…when I was employed for the prison in Takigakure, the prisoners, men who were murderers and rapists, treated me better than Sasori has during his two weeks stay; I’ve had children with behavioral issues better behaved than him too.” As he spoke, frustration leaked into his typically passive tone which he banished by clearing his throat before his happy-go-lucky façade slipped.

Kakuzu didn’t experience an ounce of genuine surprise to hear that Sasori was also a little shit to the people who had been labouring night and day to save his pathetic life for the last two weeks. “I’m sorry, Ryu.”

“Oh, it’s ok, Kakuzu. Anyway,” The pediatrician mumbled, and petting down his ruffled locks and correcting his eyeglasses. “The nurses should be bringing Sasori out in a few minutes, if they are lucky. It took us a while just to wrestle him into a wheelchair. I’m going to go back and check on them.” With a tremendous sigh, he turned and walked back into the warzone for his next tour.

It was half-an-hour until a shell-shocked Ryu walked out to retrieve his companion from the waiting room. As he walked Kakuzu down the hallway towards Sasori’s room, a literal “speak of the devil” moment happened as two nurses turned the corner, pushing said devil child in a wheelchair. The older nurse was red-faced, frustration crinkled in her wrinkled features and teeth so clinched that one could hear them cracking like children’s popping candy while the other was franticly eyeballing the windows like she was calculating if the fall out one would be enough to kill her; both showed evidence of their struggle with the teenager like Ryu, perhaps worse so. Meanwhile, Sasori wasn’t none too pleased any more than anyone else, pouting so hard his face matched his hair. It could be because he was once again without an arm or leg, or it could be because he was a little shit. Either or.

Sasori noticed Kakuzu too and threw his head back in a dramatic fashion with nose scrunched like he smelt something disgusting. “You’re handen me over to this stinken ol’ bastard?”

“Tch, would you prefer to stay here? I’ll give you the choice then: a broken neck or coma?” Kakuzu challenged him.

“You threaten me in hospital?”

“I’m making it easier on the staff.” Stepping up, the brunet gestured at the nurse handling the wheelchair. “I’ll take him now.”

“What’re goen to do? Wheel me back through the mud an’ shit like pushen shit up hill?” Sasori huffed, turning his head in an attempt to watch the elder when he walked behind him as the nurse happily stepped back from the redhead. “What’re you? R—?” There was an audible crack and a second later, Sasori crumpled in the chair, eyes white. Kakuzu held up his hand, revealing he had rendered the brat unconscious with a strategic chop to the neck. Ryu cringed while the head nurse beside him clapped her hands together and thanked whatever omnipotent being was listening.

Grabbing the back of the boy’s shirt, Kakuzu hoisted him out of the wheelchair and slung the teenager over his shoulder as he did with corpses. He turned to Ryu and held out his hand to shake. “Thank you and sorry for everything, Ryu.”

The pediatrician accepted it, obliged by the gratitude and he donated to the other a fatigued smile. “Oh, you’re welcome, and it’s ok; it’s my job, for better or for worse.”

“If anything else happens to the little shit, I’ll bring him to another hospital and let them deal with him instead.”

“Please do!” The head nurse exclaimed, either forgetting or disregarding the fact her superior was standing beside her and he disliked it when any of his staff spoke ill of patients.

Though, Ryu said nothing because for once, he agreed with her and didn’t experience an ounce of guilt over it.

**…**

Despite Sasori being back in the cabin again, it was quiet; quiet as in he wasn’t trying to kill Zetsu every five minutes or terrorizing everyone else. Instead, he pestered them from inside his own room as he had turned it into a construction site again and interrupted everyone’s sleep with hammering and drilling throughout the night and into the day for days on end. Besides this, Kakuzu didn’t involve himself with Sasori as he dedicated all his effort and free time on Zetsu and getting her to the point she couldn’t be downed by a sneeze.

She was making progress; slow progress but progress, nonetheless. Though, it wasn’t until one day soon, that both Kakuzu and Zetsu could savour the fruits of that labour.

**…**

“Alright, girl, let’s call it a day.” Kakuzu called. “You’ve done good today. You took up the new lesson quickly; quicker than I expected.” He snapped his fingers at Rājan so it didn’t continue throwing punches at the teenager. Zetsu had punched it more than it had punched her. It bellowed its sentiments at her then lumbered back to its host to take a nap.

Zetsu plunked onto her backside, panting and wiping the sweat off her face. “T-Thank you, sir…”

He huffed a pleased noise and hunched over her, patting her a bit too hard on the head, his glove shielding his hand from her damp hair. “You’re improving; you might not notice it, but I have.” He stopped himself there and straightened up. Afterall, he didn’t want her getting a fat head because he praised her once. “Anyway, I’m going into Ame, so you’ll be on your own for the day. Don’t do anything to get on Sir Leader’s bad side.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Kakuzu left and a well-deserved breather, Zetsu walked back to the cabin and made a b-line for the kitchen, thirsty after finishing her morning training. With Sir gone and the day to herself, she was going to spend it doing her homework and reading. First though, she wanted an ice cold chocolate milk for her study session. As she opened the fridge and leant inside the ice box, she heard a door shut behind her, presuming it to be Sir Leader—though, admittedly, she never saw him leave the basement much—and didn’t think much of it. That was, until the person spoke.

“Oi, bitch!” Immediately, Zetsu straightened up, nearly colliding her head with the inside of the refrigerator.

 _‘The Firefly!?’_ She internally yelped as she turned around to see Sasori marching towards her with his new, glorified peg leg. She totally forgot him! Rather, she knew he was here but because she hadn’t seen him for awhile, it slipped her mind that he was here, until now. Sir wasn’t here to protect her either. What was she going to do? _Whatwasshegoingtodo?_

She desperately searched for an out but by the time she had noticed Sasori, the redhead had succeeded in cornering her in the kitchen, trapping her between him and the counter. She pressed herself into it, praying she could do as she did last time and fall through it.

“You lil’ bitch,” He snarled, leaning down her to petite height then purposely and literally spitting out each individual word into her face. “Look what you’ve done to me! I was perfect; I was goen to be perfect with the Hitokugutsu, but then you had to take my arm an’ leg! _Look at what you’ve done to me!_ ”

“I-I-I’m s-sorry…I didn’t…i-it was a-accident.”

“How the bloody hell do you accidently eat a person’s arm an’ leg!?”

“I-I…” When Zetsu couldn’t give him an explanation, Sasori stepped back, giving her breathing room. However, what little easement she may’ve had was quickly gone as he cocked back his remaining arm and threw his fist directly towards her face in a straight-armed punch.

It was in that moment that everything felt like it went into slow motion as the girl stared at the other teenager’s incoming fist. You know in cartoons when characters have an idea and a light bulb goes off over their head? Zetsu was having one of those as she realized that Sir had taught her what to do in this scenario just this morning. She put herself back in her training mindset and imagined Sasori, not as Sasori, but as her training partner Rājan, positioning herself defensively with her arms up. It was like something took her over in that moment.  

When his hand was inches from her face, she tilted her head to the side, causing his fist to harmlessly past her by. She then grabbed onto his arm, holding it captive as she folded in her other arm and swung her elbow straight at his face. Sasori wasn’t expecting the counterattack and due to his one-armed situation, he couldn’t defend himself from it either. He quickly stepped sideways so her elbow couldn’t break his jaw. Unfortunately, while she didn’t strike him in the face, she hit something else as her arm hit the leftover stump of his right arm; the arm which freshly raw from his preparation for his new prothesis. It was that pain as if he struck his funny bone but amplified a hundred times and it was such a sudden and burning pain that it caused him to hunch over and wheeze, spitting up bile. Zetsu saw a new opportunity with him bent over like he was and brought up her knee, nailing him in the nose. The impact caused the fragile cartilage to crunch and blood to flush out of his skull like a red facet.

She let go of his arm and Sasori fell to the ground, writhing and switching between clenching his arching arm and bleeding nose while shrieking so loudly it could’ve shattered all the windows in the cabin. “You bitch…you bitch!” He screamed, pointing a bloodied finger at her and breathing so hard through clenched teeth he was foaming at the mouth. “I’ll…fucken kill you!”

Zetsu prepared herself for a second round as she put up her arms again but instead of trying to attack, Sasori picked himself off the floor. He made a disgusting, snorting noise and then spat a bloody loogie into the girl’s face, narrowly hitting her in the eye. He then turned and staggered back to his room, all while continuing to spit uniquely crafted insults, including calling her a “fuck muppet”. Even after he had slammed his door shut, his cursing could be heard. Zetsu was left standing there, caramel orbs large as she stared, awestruck, at the shut door until the screaming behind it quieted down.

Once it was silent, she blinked her dried eyes and used a dish towel to clean the spew off her face. As she did, her lethargic brain tried to process what just happened. The Firefly tried to fight her, but then he ran away. Did she win? “I win?” She asked herself, tilting her head side to side like it was on a swivel with her eyes squinted in compilation at the dated kitchen tiling. The Firefly didn’t hit her, but she hit him then he left. Wasn’t that how fights went? Whenever Sir hit a bad guy and they ran away, it meant he won so because she did the same with the Firefly, then that meant she won too! “I win!” She gasped excitedly, once the answer hit her, and threw up her arms in a victorious gesture. “I win!” Her first fight, and she won!

She grabbed a bottle chocolate milk from the fridge and ran into her/Sir’s room, all while happily chanting to herself “I win! I win!”. Wait until she told Sir about this!

**…**

It wasn’t until evening that Kakuzu came back to the cabin after spending the day with Ryu on a rare day off, a bit exhausted after listening to the quack babble on about his patients. Also, his study on the Mayfly and the elder was horrified to learn the man decided to continue feeding the Mayfly sample he had and had to transfer it to a fish tank in his home because it grew too large for the jar. Good thing Kakuzu was the only person invited into his house, so it could be kept out in the open like a trophy; a trophy he was too damned prideful of considering what it was. See, Ryu didn’t have much of a social life outside Kakuzu but neither did Kakuzu outside him so what was he to say? Nonetheless, he was relieved to be back “home” and could spend the remainder of the night doing his favourite thing: financials. Hopefully, nothing bad happened the one time he decided to leave Zetsu on her own.

As he entered his room, said girl was huddled away in the makeshift tent hung over her futon in the corner and doing the math homework due that night. Upon Zetsu noticing him, she pushed aside her paperwork and bounced out of her little hideaway. “Sir!”

Kakuzu paused, quirking a curious eyebrow at her. “Girl.” He wasn’t used to getting such a warm reception from her. Typically, when he was in and out, she said nothing because she was too fascinated in whatever new book she was reading.

“I win!”

“What did you win?”

“A fight!”

Oh shit. “You had a fight?” He asked her.

She nodded, orbs like glittering topazes. “With the Firefly!”

Oh, fucking shit. “You two had a fight?”

“Yes! And I win!”  

“You two had a fight and you won?” He likely sounded like an idiot parroting everything she was saying like this but he wanted to make sure he was hearing everything correctly. Did she seriously just say she got in a fight with Sasori and won?

“Yes!” She squeaked, bouncing in place.

“What happened?”

“I was…I want chocolate milk and the Firefly…he say bad word and fight me. But! But, I fight back and was like…whoosh and bam!” She made the defensive pose he taught her and threw her elbow then kicked up her knee which mirrored the counters she practiced this morning. “And then…and then the Firefly ran away!”

“Is that what happened?”

“Yes!”

Kakuzu wanted to call bullshit on everything she said. Afterall, he was finding it hard to believe she had a fight with Sasori— _Sasori_ —of all people and won. However, Zetsu wasn’t person to lie; she wasn’t smart enough to lie and he didn’t think her smart enough to think of such a scenario either. Also, with Sasori being down and arm and leg like he was currently was, it was plausible that in a one-on-one fight of fisticuffs, Zetsu could overpower him, even with the little taijutsu she knew. It was bullshit, but he believed it.

He sighed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No, Firefly didn’t hit me. I was like whoosh!” She said, making a weaving motion while dramatizing it with the “whoosh” sound. “But I hit him!”

“Did you hurt him?”

“A…a little…” Her hesitant answer surprised him. Not because she confirmed to have hurt Sasori, but because she didn’t appear guilty over it like past incidents when she “hurt” someone and started sniveling; not a tear in her eye. If anything, it was like she was frightened she might be punished for hurting him. Was a welcomed change starting to happen with her?

“It’s fine, girl. Good job.” Zetsu gasped exhilaratingly, confirming his suspicious she wasn’t conscience-stricken for what she did, but Kakuzu wasn’t going to make her either. Little shit got what he deserved.

She stared intensely at him and after a minute, the older man clued in onto what she wanted after staring back, frowning and brow crinkled like an idiot. He extended out his hand, patting it heavily onto her head as reward for her accomplishment, much to her delight as she giggled and smiled. It was borderline adorable as she reminded him of Daora and he wanted to pinch himself.

 _‘Kakuzu,’_ Sir Leader’s voice suddenly echoed through his subconscious, mercifully infringing on the cushy thoughts he was having. _‘I’d like to speak with you. Would you kindly enter my office?’_

Kakuzu heaved a grand sigh. “Yes.” So much for his quiet time. He turned to leave when Zetsu’s tiny voice peeped up.

“Is Sir Leader mad at you?”

His frown creased into his bandana as glanced at her over his shoulder. “You heard that?”

She quirked her head sideways like an owl with her sizable, gawking golden orbs to match. “Yes.”

He decided not to interrogate the girl on her evident mind reading abilities and left the room, leaving behind the teenager who just shrugged and went back to burning the midnight oil while drinking her weight in chocolate milk.

As Kakuzu walked to the basement, he decided to take a little detour and confirm if Zetsu’s tale of defeating Sasori in battle had an ounce of truth to it. The puppeteer’s bedroom door was shut, and it was strangely quiet inside, for once that week. He tapped his knuckles on the sad excuse of a door and waited. A second later, he received an answer from the other side in the fashion of an obnoxiously barked, “what!?”

“Boy, is it true you and the girl got in a fight and she kicked your pathetic bushie ass?” Kakuzu asked him, no pussyfooting or hemming or hawing with him.

“She did not kick my arse! Lil’ bitch kicked me in the fucken nose!” Sasori defensively yelled back and that was all the confirmation Kakuzu required. He left the miserable little shit to whatever plotting he was up to as he entered the basement.

It was a few weeks since he last met with Sir Leader and during that time, the ginger had acquired a new Kakuzu-proof desk—as in a metal desk. It was smaller than his last and writing on it felt horrible but it wasn’t threatening to fall apart or a file cabinet, so beggars can’t be choosers. As Kakuzu trudged down the stairwell, the superior glanced up from his paperwork he was signing to acknowledge the brunet’s presence. “Hello, Kakuzu.”

“Hmph. You’ve been quiet.” Kakuzu grunted, standing with arms crossed behind the available chair instead of seating himself as he saw no use since this conversation would be over in a matter of minutes. Or, so he prayed.

“That I have. I was waiting for the payment from Shimogakure and it finally arrived yesterday.”

“Tch, what took them so long?”

“Well, according to the letter which it was attached to, it took them time to identify a majority of the bodies as they were quote,” Sir Leader paused as he fished said letter from a drawer, so he may read it. “‘burned beyond recognition’, unquote.” He glimpsed over the parchment at the other man again, delivering him a questioning gaze of “what did you do?”. 

Kakuzu granted he might have overdone it a little bit on that mission, but he was having a bad day. “Was the entire payment included at least?”

“Yes, it was. As promised, each bounty was paid to us. The Akatsuki has been hurting finically but with this payment, it’ll make future endeavors easier.”

Finally, good news. Perhaps whatever curse inflicting them was starting to pass. “Glad to hear. Now, if you excuse me.” Kakuzu turned to leave and return back to his bookkeeping but Sir Leader hadn’t finished with him or the conversation just yet.

“How is Zetsu?”

It was such an out-of-the-blue question that it succeeded in halting the pennypitcher in his step. Kakuzu turned back to him, quiet for a moment before answering. “She’s fine.”

Sir Leader nodded, a thoughtful expression etched into his pierced face, setting his elbows on his desk with his chin sat upon his intertwined fingers. “How is her training going?”

“Fine also. She’s a quick learner and she can perfect a lesson now within one to two sessions; she’s improved a lot.”

“Would you say she is prepared to function as a member of the Akatsuki?”

“No.” Sir Leader perked an inquisitive eyebrow up to his headband by the outright answer after the elder finished praising the girl, a rare gesture from him. Kakuzu decided to explain himself. “She’s learned a lot, yes, but she wouldn’t last five minutes by herself or in a fight. Though, she said she got in a fight with Sasori today and won.”

The other orange eyebrow went up. “She and Sasori had a fight?”

Kakuzu nodded. “Yes, and according to her, she won it. I confirmed it with the little shit who said she kicked him the nose.”

“That is impressive. And yet, you do not believe her readied to be a member?”

“Considering that boy has only one leg and one arm right now, it was a fight with a cripple.”

“Noted.” Sir Leader pushed himself back in his chair with one leg slung over the other and his hands on his knee. “So, how much longer until you think Zetsu’s training complete? I’d like it to be once preparations for the Akatsuki are completed.”

“When would you say that’ll happened?”

“Approximately? Hmm, perhaps three months.”

“Then three months.”

“Are you positive on that, Kakuzu?” Sir Leader interrogated him, his Rinnegan dilating eerily as he stared at the larger male. “Do you think, no, do you _believe_ she’ll be prepared to be a member of the Akatsuki in three months’ time? Once the next step for the Akatsuki is taken, we’ll required all the members we can get.”

“Yes, I do.” Kakuzu replied without a hint of deception in his thunderous tone. “Like I said, she’s a quick learner and if she can master a lesson as she had, then I’ll have nothing left to teach her in two months.”

“You’ve grown quite sentimental with the girl, Kakuzu.”

Kakuzu huffed. “Do not mistake my impatience for praise. I want this girl out of my hair as soon as possible.”

“Hmm, well then.” Sir Leader muttered. Foolish him thinking the felon had a hint of warmth in any one of his five hearts. “Two months it is. Would you like to shake on it?”

“No, because I know for a fact you’re going to remind me of it everytime we meet.” Kakuzu grumbled and Sir Leader lowered the hand he had extended over his desk in preparation of said handshake. “Now, if we’re finished, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Yes, so you can get Zetsu. I’ve got a new mission for you.”

There was a loud, crunching noise as the back of the metal chair was crumpled in Kakuzu’s bruising grasp like paper. Pein frowned. It would appear he would have to petition Konan for a new chair next.

**…**

In the blink of an eye, two months came and went; Kakuzu spent them juggling between training Zetsu and missions. Zetsu picked up quickly on her lessons and as he told Sir Leader, what would’ve taken three months took only two. He tried to develop her Mayfly also, but given his knowledge of the Kekkei Genkai was limited, he gave up on it and decided she could learn it herself through trail and error like she had. Besides that, she had the basic training of a shinobi and he trusted she was qualified to be accepted into the Akatsuki and function by herself.

Before he’d tell Sir Leader that though, he had one test left and this would either make or break her.

It was like any other morning: Kakuzu had woken Zetsu up and after bathing and having a breakfast of delicious chocolate milk, she left the cabin for her training. He had told her he’d catch up with her later, so she carried with her a book to read in the meantime. In recent past, she had improved in her reading skills. So much so, Konan gifted her with intermediate reading material, the type adults read that didn’t have pictures and was hundreds of pages. This one was about a witch and lion and Zetsu was curious why they were in a wardrobe. She found a sunny spot in the middle of the field and laid herself down.

When she finally glanced up from her novel, approximately twenty minutes later, she realized Sir had yet to arrive. It was peculiar (that was one of her favourite words). Typically, he’d be here ten minutes after, not twice that. She was curious if something happened and she should investigate it but decided not to. Sir was an adult and adults could take care of themselves, especially Sir so she went back to her reading.

It was thirty minutes in when Zetsu at last heard the slamming of the cabin door and felt the faint quakes of Sir marching to her. She sat up, tagging her place in the book with the cute, kitten bookmark Konan had given her and put it to the side as he got up. Immediately, she observed the lack of company Sir had with him as Rājan was nowhere to be seen. She was used to the creature being with him since it was her training partner. With his tardiness and isolation, she suspected something was up and waited for an explanation.

“Girl, you aren’t going to be training today.” Kakuzu notified her, much to the teenager’s perplexity. They never didn’t train! Sir trained her even when she was sick or when her arm was casted. It was the first time they skipped out on training. She kind of liked training. It was hard but she liked how big and strong it made her. The Firefly hadn’t tried to fight her since she won!

“Why?” She asked him quietly, staring up at him with her natural puppy-dog eyes.

“Because you’re having a test today.” Instantly, she hated herself for asking.

“A-A test?” She stammered out with lips quivering. She hated tests! They made her nervous. Konan said she was great at tests, and she was because she always got one-hundreds, but she hated them. She hadn’t studied either! She didn’t know what she was supposed to study but she didn’t study!

“Your _final_ test.” A final test too? What happened to the other tests? “You’ve made great process, more so than I thought you would. Because of that, I have nothing left to teach you. So, this test is going to be a battle and in it, you’ll demonstrate everything you’ve learned. If you win, then you’ll become a member of the Akatsuki.”

“And I lose?”

“Then I’ll have to start from scratch and teach you everything again.” Kakuzu cringed as he said this as it would be a harder loss for him instead of her.

Zetsu considered it. A fight and if she won, she joined the Akatsuki (she always thought she was part of the Akatsuki because she lived here but apparently not?), and if she lost than she had to do training over again? She wasn’t enticed with the spoils of victory or failure but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try and win this fight with everything she had! “Ok!”

“Oh no, I’m not your opponent.” He clarified when the girl fell into the defensive stance she practiced with a hundred times now and was like getting dressed in the morning, honey orbs squinted directly at him and a curl to her upper lip that displayed her canines hidden underneath.

Her clenched fists fell a bit as she was disarmed by his answer, but she kept them up at chest level as while her guard wavered, it didn’t drop. Just like Sir taught her. “Then who?”

“That’ll be me, poppet.”

Zetsu turned in the direction of the new voice and gasped. “The Firefly!?”


	32. Arc 2: Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu vs. Sasori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Blood/Violence (Mid), Genderbend

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 31**

“Tch, I ain’t a fucken firefly, dumbarse.” Sasori chided, striding up to the two others with a narcissistic swagger in his step and that trademark shit-eating grin on his punchable little face. Kakuzu also noticed something else with him; something new.

“Your opponent is going to be Sasori.” Kakuzu told Zetsu if it wasn’t obvious to her yet.

Once the initial dumbfounderment left, disappointment remained. Zetsu was expecting to fight Sir; she had wanted to fight Sir because she was going to show him how she mastered everything he taught her. While she was bummed, she wasn’t upset. If she had beaten the Firefly in a fight with half the techniques she knew now, then she was going to squash him! This might be the easiest test she ever had.

“Ok!” She chirped.

Kakuzu spied the infernos flickering in her caramel orbs as she stared at Sasori who didn’t notice, too occupied with loosening himself with stretches. “Girl, can I speak with you?”

He shepherded her away so the puppeteer couldn’t overhear their conversation. Once a safe distance, the elder crouched down so he was eyelevel with the girl. “Listen to me, do not get cocky. You winning a fight with him once was a fluke.”

‘Fluke?’ She hadn’t heard that word before. “Umm…”

“You won because he was at a disadvantage. I want you to take a hard look at him and tell me: what is different about him?” He pointed at Sasori and Zetsu squinted her eyes at him, trying to figure out what was so new with him. He hadn’t cut his hair or lost weight. Maybe new clothes? It took her an honest minute to notice it.

“Firefly has a two legs and arms!” She gasped, pointing at the redhead who was wearing an outfit of shorts and a polo shirt, advertising his shiny new prosthetic limbs. They were expertly crafted so from afar, so it was hard to tell them apart from being natural and manmade. Unlike the macabre scarecrow limbs he had last.

“That’s right. When you fought him last, he didn’t have them, did he? Now, you two are even so don’t go thinking this is going to be anything like last time because it isn’t.” Kakuzu warned her with a finger poking her nose and resulting in her almond-shaped eyes crossing comedically.

Zetsu glanced past Sir at Sasori again, frowning sideways. She didn’t understand what the stink was about. So what if the Firefly has an arm and leg now? She won once and she would win again! “Ok.” She peeped. Kakuzu heaved a defeated sigh. He had an easier chance of talking a suicidal person off a ledge then speaking logic into her. He might asphyxiate if he tried doing so any further.

“Oi! Are we doen this or ain’t we?!” Sasori bellowed, shattering the tranquil atmosphere of the meadow with his dislikeable dialect like nails on a chalkboard. He had his hands anchored on his hips with a foot tapping, trampling the grass and innocent insects underneath it.

Kakuzu straightened up, his old bones cracking. With a tremendous sigh, he turned and trudged back to the boy with an enthusiastic Zetsu skipping behind him. He strategically positioned himself between the two teenagers so no one could try and instigate this fight before the ground rules were set—or rather, so Sasori couldn’t as Kakuzu didn’t fail to catch that sinister glimmer in his bronze hues while he stared at Zetsu.  

“Ok, listen up,” Kakuzu broadcasted, glancing out of the corner of his eye at each teenager and folding his arms. “This is going to be a fight of fisticuffs, not a free-for-all so no jutsu except taijutsu. That includes Kekkei Genkai, _girl.”_

It took a minute for it to register with Zetsu that he was speaking to her as she was too occupied with the staring contest she was having with Sasori. Blinking her dried eyes, she stared up at Kakuzu. “What?”

He heaved a piqued sigh. “I said no Kekkei Genkai! So, no using your Mayfly. Also, no biting either.”

“Ha! Without her lil’ bloodline, it’ll be like fighten a babe!” Sasori interjected, cackling like a hyena.

“And you, _boy,”_ Kakuzu turned towards Sasori, blanketing the redhead with his shadow with a finger pointed once more. “No puppets nor whatever other little tricks you’ve gotten up your sleeve with those new limbs.”

Sasori made a spitting noise. “Tch, I don’t need ‘em to kick this lil’ bitch’s arse.”

“Obviously, you do, because she kicked _your_ ass without them.”  

White bled into crimson as Sasori’s face went red and in this colder morning weather, if one squinted, you could see the steam billowing off the hot flesh. “I didn’t have my arm an’ leg! That’s the only reason that bitch won! Whatcha smilen at, bitch!?” The puppeteer barked as he noticed a smirking Zetsu gazing at him and she quickly ducked back into safety behind Kakuzu’s leg. Though, snickering could be heard.

“Whatever. Let’s get on with this,” Kakuzu muttered. “Both of you: turn around and take ten paces opposite of each other.” He specified it with a circular motion of his finger.

Zetsu raised her hand like how Konan taught her when she had a question. “Umm…what’s a pace?”

“It’s a step.”

“Oh, ok!” Turning, she took ten dramatized steps, numbering them out loud so she didn’t take too many or too few; a bit too big but Kakuzu left it. Once the ten was taken, she made a stance like a soldier standing at ease, back straight and arms at her sides.

“Dumbarse.” Sasori mumbled, turning and taking his own ten steps.

Once each teenager had taken their appointed stepage, Kakuzu glanced at them to make certain their backs faced each other and they were a significant distance apart. “Alright, I’ll go through the rules once more: no jutsu except Taijutsu, no Kekkei Genkai, no puppets and no fighting dirty. Oh, and no killing _._ Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Whatever.”

“Ok then. I’ll going to give a count of three and on one, you can start.” He paused, stealing a suspicious glimpse Sasori from the corner of his red eye, not putting it pass the little smartass to immediately lurch at her then claim he said “one”. Surprisingly, he hadn’t taken leverage off the miser’s poor choice of words, so he continued. “Ready? Three…two…one!” He leapt back and out of the pathway of the two minors, not a millisecond too soon either because the moment the last syllable of “one” left his tongue, Sasori was turned around and charging.

Unfortunately, due to her overstepping and characteristic slowness, by the time Zetsu had realized Kakuzu said “one” and turned also, her cheek was met by Sasori’s wooden fist. The punch sent her stumbling back a few steps and when she caught herself, she was pushed back with another hit. Sasori went in for the third punch but Zetsu managed to gather herself and duck his fist, making it soar harmlessly over her head. She tried to capture his wrist like how she had done to him before and in the progress, she ignored one critical detail: Sasori had two arms now. So, when she grabbed his wrist, he replied by uppercutting her in the chin his other hand. Her canines gnash painfully together with a noise akin to metal grinding metal, nearly biting a portion of her own tongue off, and her head jackknifed backwards. She let go of his wrist and wavered on her feet, the punch having whiplashed her neck and left her disoriented.

“Finished already!?” Sasori teased, grabbing her shoulders and delivering his knee into her gut, resulting in bile being ejected as she spat up. She fell onto her back and writhed in the dirt, cradling her abdomen as she coughed and gasped for lost breath, drool and bile leaking from the corners of her gaping maw like a fish out of water.

In the background, Kakuzu shook his head with a disappointed sigh. This was ending up exactly how he predicted it would. _‘I told that girl not to underestimate him.’_

Sasori planted his foot on her chest, stepping down and she wheezed as the little oxygen in her lungs was driven out of her starved lungs. “Stay down, poppet.” He warned, applying additional pressure when Zetsu ignored him and tried sitting up. “I win this.”

 _‘It’s over.’_ Kakuzu thought with a drawn-out sigh and starting walking towards the two to declare Sasori the winner in this spar. It would appear he would be spending the next few months teaching Zetsu everything over again. Joy, oh joy. However, he shouldn’t have leapt to conclusions so quickly because if there was one thing about Zetsu: it was that had a habit of surprising him, and what she did was a perfect example of this.

Tapping his foot on Zetsu’s chest, Sasori stared at Kakuzu, waiting impatiently for the old man to shuffle over and give him his victory, he had made the mistake of leaving himself open, quite literally with one leg mounted on her and the other grounded. Zetsu noticed this and bending her leg, used all her strength to kick her foot into the redhead’s unguarded crouch and considering all the laps Sir made her run as a warm-up in the morning, it wasn’t a love tap. Sasori’s reaction was instant.

His cinnamon eyes bulged in their sockets, threatening to fall out, and a combination of a high-pitched scream and gasp left his lungs as he hunched over, grasping his agonized groin, trembling. He stumbled backwards off Zetsu then fell to his knees, heaving with salvia and tears dripping off his face. Kakuzu halted mid-step. If he was a weaker man, he wouldn’t erupted into laughter at the just desserts the little shit was just dished out, but he was better than that, so his lips quirked into a smirk and his Adam’s apple bobbed with swallowed snickering. What she just did could be considered dirty fighting, but he would just pretend he didn’t notice it. He backed up to his original position as it became obvious this wasn’t over yet—far from it.

Zetsu got up, dusting herself off and used her sleeve to wipe the drool from her own wet face. Sasori glared at her, eyes bloodshot, and breathing hard through clinched teeth so it made a foam like a rabid animal. “You…you fucken lil’…bitch! I’ll kill you!” With that little to nonexistent warning, he lunged. This time though, she was prepared.

Sasori threw a punch and Zetsu pushed his puppet arm aside so the hit brushed past her cheek then slugged him in the stomach. Having not fully recovered from the cheap shot earlier, his reaction time was on the lethargic side, so he took the hit, grunting and crumpling over. She struck him again, making him too dyspneic to defend himself.

“There you go, girl!” Kakuzu hollered from the sidelines, clapping his hands like a parent at a child’s game, then caught himself, hands mid-clap. Was he seriously cheering Zetsu on? Fuck it—yes, he was and cupped a hand over his mouth as he yelled next, “Give that little shit a taste of his own medicine!” Encouraged by Kakuzu’s cheering, Zetsu kept drilling him in the midsection, turning him into a human punching bag.

She didn’t know what he meant by giving the Firefly a “taste of his own medicine” but she was going to hurt him for everytime he hurt her. This one was hurting her in Suna! _Punch._ And this one was for her stuffed animals! _Punch._ And this was for him being a big meanie head! _Punch. Punch. Punch._

After being fed a baker’s dozen of knuckle sandwiches, Sasori finally snapped out of his stupefaction and it was with her thirteenth strike that her bad luck triggered. He headed off the punch as he took her hand captive and when she tried using her other hand, he snatched up that one too, incarcerating them both. She tried to pull herself free and he replied by wrenching her towards him, headbutting her. The gruesome crack that resulted from the collision of their skulls was like a gunshot and made the birds nesting in the circumscribing treeline to fly from the foliage with frightened squawking. Zetsu’s eyes fluttered behind their eyelids and she fell back onto the ground, the quaking of her brain from the impact causing her to black out. The consciousness was literally punched back into her and when her sight bled back, she saw Sasori, bestriding her and slugging her in the face as his next punch made her vision bleach white and shredded the inside of her cheek as it grinded on her pointed teeth like a cheese grater, making her tastebuds tingle with the flavour of pennies as blood was spilt.

“Hey! That was a dirty move, you little shit!” Kakuzu blared but Sasori ignored him as he kept punching Zetsu, a sadistic grin plastered on his ugly little mug like the one he exhibited the last time he attacked her like this. Kakuzu made the beginning motions to run it and intercept the two teenagers, calling off the fight in Zetsu’s favour, when Zetsu turned the tables on the brat.

She countered his hammering with her arms, using them to cast aside his hands so he punched them into the dirt and started kicking her legs. Thinking she was trying for another crotch shot, he bent his leg, so his nether regions were safe from her thrashing. That wasn’t what she was going for though and with his new angle, it permitted her to bend her legs underneath him with her feet braced on his abdomen then with a push upward, flipped him off her. He landed on his beck with a thump and a gasped ‘oof’. She quickly got up, wabbling on her feet as the few hits to the head left her discombobulated. A puddle of blood had complied itself inside her mouth and she painted a nearby patch of grass red as she spat the crimson liquid onto it. Sasori was up a second later and ran at her with the green-haired girl running back at him, meeting halfway.

They exchanged blows, bobbing and weaving past each other’s fists and landing the occasional hit on the other. The air was thick with their panting breaths and smelt heavily of copper and perspiration from the blood and sweat being strayed from each successful strike. Jasper met topaz and a cold shiver ran up Sasori’s spine as he recognized that maleficent glimmer in them; it was like it wasn’t an innocent little girl staring back at him but something else, something infernal, the thing that ate his arm and leg.

“What…the fuck…are you!?” He screamed out, empathizing the question with a turning kick.

Zetsu took the kick to her side, grimacing and grunting. He delivered a second kick then a third and each time, she made no motion to elude them. Mainly because she didn’t know how. This hadn’t been included in her training because Rājan had little legs; it couldn’t kick. Sasori picked up on this fact and changed his tactics in favour of this. He kicked her over and over again: roundkicks, front kicks, turning kicks, each and every kick in existence and she could do little but take them while wrestling with the pain and digging her heels in the earth so she wouldn’t go down.

Kakuzu was metaphorically chewing his nails as he spectated having realized his own mistake also. _‘Damnit, how didn’t I notice this!?’_ He castigated himself but despite the disadvantage Zetsu was presented with, his confidence in her was steadfast. “Think, girl, think!” And think she did and a few seconds—and kicks later, she had an idea; an imaginary lightbulb switching on over her head.

As Sasori’s leg fell from its latest booting, Zetsu stole the opening to hurl a kick of her own back at him, swinging her leg at his side. It was a failure though as he folded down his arm, using it as a cushion for his ribcage. After being kicked in the stomach, she mimicked his front kick with identical results as he sidestepped her leg, nearly breaking in her knee as he brought his elbow down onto it. Again, and again, she tried and failed to give him a literally ass kicking back and every time, he just brushed her off—he was playing with her. What he didn’t realize was that she was the one playing him. Zetsu was exhausted and hurting, panting like a dog with saliva dribbling from her lips and her knees knocking together as they struggled to keep her upright. Sasori smirked. _‘This is over.’_ He decided to down her once and for all with one last front kick as he thrusted his foot at her. However, the outcome wasn’t like he predicted it.

Instead of taking it like she had with every other one, she sidestepped it like he had done to her, so he was kicking nothing but air. She grabbed his leg and again, as he had done, elbowed him in the kneecap. He howled in pain and yanked his leg from her, skipping back one-legged a few steps then then switching legs and kicking his other at her, hip-level. Like the last one, she enacted the same technique he had, buffeting her hip using her arm so it did little but lurch her.

Sasori snarled. _‘Damnit, she’s learnen as she fights!?’_ She wasn’t just learning, but rather, she was using him to learn. He wasn’t going to stand for this! He was ending this— _now._ So, he tried his best to do just that and she did was the same as they unleashed a cannonade of frenetic punches and kicks like two children squabbling on a schoolyard.

Kakuzu watched on, questioning if he should step in as this spar had essentially turned into a “no-hold-barred” kickboxing match, but he didn’t have the chance.

Zetsu hooked Sasori in the cheek with a right punch and he answered it by uppercutting her in the chin, each sending the other faltering to their left then immediately turning and nailing the other with a back-handed swing to the face—and it was over. Both teenagers fell to the ground like a bag of rocks and laid there, chests heaving and soaked to the bone in sweat and blood that was their own and the other person’s. Kakuzu waited for them to get back up again but after a minute, it became obvious this was done. He walked over with the ruling.

“It’s…a draw.” He said, muttering it in an incredulous tone like he himself didn’t believe what he was saying. That was because he did not. What was he supposed to do with a draw? He couldn’t tell Sir Leader with no hesitation that Zetsu was prepared to be a member because she hadn’t won but also, from what he saw, she didn’t require additional training as she performed everything he taught her extraordinarily, her only drawback being her own cockiness.

“Draw?” Zetsu inquired past an inflating lip. So, she didn’t win? She also didn’t lose?

“What!? It ain’t a draw!” Sasori predictably caterwauled, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “I won the minute that cunt kicked me in the bloody balls! That was a dirty move!”

“So was headbutting her.” Kakuzu easily invalidated his point.

“She kicked me in the balls first!”

“Then you both fought dirty and it’s still a draw.”

“That’s bullshit!” Sasori cried but Kakuzu wasn’t jeopardizing his hearing by listening to any more of his bitching as the felon walked over Zetsu to give her hand as she was having obvious difficulties with how she wheeling in the dirt. “This. Is. Bullshit!”

Kakuzu was helping Zetsu to her feet when he heard the telltale noise of a bladed weapon being unsheathed from a scabbard and twitched his emeralded orbs over his sunglasses in the direction of the disquieting sound. Sasori was now standing, extended from his wooden arm was an arm-length blade, the polished silver surface mirrored by the malicious flicker in his eyes. Once Kakuzu realized what was happening, the red-haired boy was lurching at Zetsu’s turned back with an infuriated yell. “I win this!”

“Girl, look out!” Quickly, he grappled her into his arms and faced his back to the puppeteer, using himself to shield her and activating his Earth Style jutsu with a proclaim of “Doton”; smoke spewed from his skin as it hardened into brass. He might’ve triggered it too late though and braced himself for the result of the sword harmlessly ricocheting or stabbing one of his hearts. Mercifully, he didn’t receive an answer either way.

“Shinra Tensei.” Was muttered in an eerily, low-key tone, piercing the atmosphere like a knife.

A hurricane-grade wind struck Sasori from behind, picking him up off his feet and hurling him through the air like a plastic bag in a windstorm. He struck a tree with his series of loud cracking, his body wrapping bonelessly around the trunk and slowly after, he crumpled lifelessly into the dirt. Blood and bodily fluids leaked from his blue lips as his mouth gaped open and shut for breath, his eyes large and empty as he was juggled between unconsciousness and consciousness and the guttural, groaning emitting from his throat like that of a dying animal.

Kakuzu squinted his eyes then diverted his curious gaze over his shoulder at the person responsible. “How long have you been standing there?” He interrogated the culprit.

Sir Leader’s outstretched hand lowered to his side and blinked his Rinnegan as it met the darkness of Kakuzu’s sunglasses. “Long enough to witness what happened.” He answered cryptically. “Zetsu has made a lot progress.”

 _‘So, he was standing there long enough to watch a part of the fight,’_ Kakuzu concluded to himself but before could say anything, Sir Leader was speaking again.

“I have a huge announcement for the Akatsuki, so when you can, would you kindly meet with me in my office?” Like that, the ginger turned on his heel and departed back inside the cabin; angry, black clouds after a thunderstorm.

There was a strangled whimpering and Kakuzu, realizing he was accidently squishing Zetsu in his iron arms, turned off his jutsu freed the poor girl. She blinked up at him with her non-blackened eye, startled but unharmed (by this at least), evidently confused as everything happened so fast. Kakuzu was confused too but for other reasons. Had he seriously endangered himself to protect this girl? He had, but why? _Why, why, why?_ Why did he suddenly give a shit about her? _Why, why, why?_ He kept asking himself but no matter how many times he asked the question, no answer had yet to materialize and it was starting to give him a headache. When he returned to reality, he found Zetsu staring at him, like she had a bad habit of doing.

He supported her up and fixed her clothing which was ruffled and stained with dried blood and dirt. Konan was going to have a field day when she saw the girl like this since he had neglected to tell her of the spar today, not that he would’ve anyway. Zetsu was still staring at him with a stage fright expression and he realized she wasn’t so much staring as much as waiting—she was waiting to be told how she did today as he did after every lesson. The answer was shown before it was spoken as he laid a heavy hand on her head and her fat lips split into a grin as she giggled happily as it was the telltale sign that he was pleased with her.

“You did great,” He told her, tousling her wet grassy strands and dust plumed up from them. “It may’ve been a draw today, but you won as you exceeded all my expectations for you.” Her bruised cheeks were hurting from the strength of her smiling as he said that. That had to be the nicest thing Sir ever said to her.

After a second more of petting, Kakuzu then guided his black-and-blue student to the cabin so they could hear this “huge announcement” Sir Leader had for them in terms of the Akatsuki while dragging Sasori’s pathetic, moaning ass behind them with his threads.


	33. Arc 2: Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sir Leader's announcement for the Akatsuki; its goal and future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Med), Genderbend

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 32**

 

It was a half-an-hour before this huge “announcement” could be made as Sir Leader wanted to wait for Konan to arrive first. During which, Kakuzu obtained a steak from the freezer and Zetsu was currently seated in the metal chair in front of Sir Leader’s desk, holding the cold slab of meat on her ballooned face with a disgusted grimace. Sasori was in the chair beside her, fastened to it by threads to prevent thrashing, arms shackled to his sides and a dirty rag stuffed into his mouth to muffle his obnoxious moaning. It did little though as he had started humming a mutilated tune. Kakuzu wanted to tear out his vocal cords, but he couldn’t exactly do that with Sir Leader a few feet from him. Instead, he tapped the metal-toed boot on the cement floor to drown out the out-of-tune warbling and Sasori, being the shithead he was, replied by humming louder. All it accomplished was disturbing Sir Leader who was trying to finish his paperwork and if they weren’t so crucial for the Akatsuki, he might’ve killed the both of them.

Finally, after thirty-seven minutes (Kakuzu had timed it), Konan descended the stairwell into the basement. Instantly, her ambered eyes snapped to Zetsu and upon observing her puffy, black and blue face, let out a horrified gasp like she just found the girl’s corpse. “What happened!?” She wailed, hastening to Zetsu’s side and crouching beside her. “Zetsu, what happened?”

“A fight.” Zetsu answered genuinely, flinching when the woman pulled back the steak to examine her eye that was inflamed shut and painted pitch-black like a panda’s eye patch.

“A fight?” Konan’s burning orbs instantly menaced Kakuzu and her coloured eyelids squinted. Mama Bear mode activated. “What happened?” She asked him, darkly.

Kakuzu just shrugged and casually said, “A fight.”

“Why was there a fight? And why are you using a steak instead of ice?”

“Meat is cold and draws out the water that causes swelling.” Kakuzu replied.

“We have ice for that!”

“Raw meat is better for black eyes.”

“Raw meat has bacteria, it’ll give her an infection!”

“She isn’t using it on any wounds, just her damned eye!”

“She can get pink eye!”

“She isn’t going to get fucking pink eye!”

“Ahem!” Sir Leader cleared his throat loudly, interrupting the two guardians’ quarreling. “Would you two kindly hush up so I may speak?” Immediately, Kakuzu and Konan “hushed up” and instead, exchanged heated glares over Zetsu’s head, much to her discomfort as she slinked down in her chair. “Thank you.”

Sir Leader pushed aside his infinite paperwork and intertwined his hands on his desk, preparing his throat again. “Now then, I am pleased to announce that preparations in Amegakure have finally completed after numerous delays due to insufficient funds and weather. It shall function as the Akatsuki’s main headquarters and the organization will be relocated there.”

“So, we’re moving to Ame?” Kakuzu asked, basically summarizing everything he said with the question.

“Yes.”

“When?”

“As soon as possible. I’d prefer it be done today as I have a meeting planned after everyone has transferred. That isn’t too much to ask.” It wasn’t a question. Kakuzu went silent with his interrogation so Sir Leader continued speaking. “I’ll be going ahead, and Konan shall be the one guiding you to Ame once you are all prepared. Any other questions?”

Kakuzu glanced at Zetsu, expecting her to raise her hand because she always had a million questions to ask, but by the crinkle her brow and tilt to her head, he could tell she was lost on the situation and would have to explain it to her later. “Perfect. Now, if you would kindly leave my office.” He shooed them off with a sweeping gesture of the hand.  

Everyone obliged the superior’s request and left. Kakuzu freed Sasori from his threads and the first thing the brat did was spit expletives at him, then literally spit at him and run into his room, slamming the door behind him. He would’ve hunted down the boy and strangled him if he didn’t feel a tapping on his side and gazed down to find Zetsu staring up at him, now pressing an ice bag to her face. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Konan put the steak back into the freezer with a cringe and glare in his direction.

“Are we moving?” Zetsu asked.

Kakuzu nodded. “Yes.”

“To a new house?”

He hadn’t asked that, but he couldn’t imagine Sir Leader making them live on the streets or god-forbid buying their own residences. That wouldn’t fly with the miser. “We’ll see. Now let’s start packing.” He ushered her to their shared bedroom, nudging her along using his knees.

Thankfully, Kakuzu didn’t have much to pack: his clothes, financials and old book collection a certain someone gifted him. Zetsu had much more in terms of the hundreds of plushies Konan bought her—it wasn’t hundreds, but it felt like that. After boxing her clothes and books, she didn’t have anything for her stuffed animals and started getting upset, thinking she would have to leave them behind. Eventually, Kakuzu had to sew a blanket into a bag for her to put their combined weight in toys inside—and who was the lucky person that got to play Santa Claus and carry it? Him, naturally. After approximately an hour, they finished and left the room, Zetsu with her backpack jam-packed with her books and homework and holding her box of clothes while Kakuzu was hauling his own wardrobe and collection underneath his arm plus the bag of stuffed toys slung over his shoulder. In the living room, Sasori was seated on the couch, tapping his foot on the table and humming again.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the back of his red head. “Boy, where are your things?”

Sasori’s paused in his woolgathering, glaring at the elder from the corner of his eye as he leaned off the cushions and jabbed a thumb to the scrolls buckled to the back of his Sunagakure vest. “Scrolls, dumbarse.” Kakuzu scowled and once again, was going to throttle the shit when he was interrupted by Konan entering through the front door.

She gave everyone a once over. “Is everyone ready?” She asked, receiving a lukewarm reception except Zetsu who chirped out an ecstatic “yes!”. Instantly, Konan noticed the girl was wrestling with her backpack and a heavy cardboard box and stepped in. “Oh here, let me take that, sweetheart.” She offered and took the box off her hands with a smile.

“Thank you.” Zetsu said, presenting back a fat-lipped, beartrap smile. Kakuzu scowled at the fact Konan failed to also offer to take the toy store he was hauling. Afterall, she was the cause of why Zetsu had so much junk. She never did either.

Instead, she told them to follow her as she walked out the door and they trailed behind her in a straight line, reminiscent of a mother duck and her ducklings. Kakuzu positioned himself between Zetsu and Sasori during the little road trip to prevent a playback of this morning’s events. Thankfully, Sasori didn’t try anything as he was too busy with bitching the minute they left; bitching that he was hungry, or that he was hurting, or that he was getting mud in his sandals as they trudged through the Marshlands—being the only one with open-toed shoes. Kakuzu could tell even the saintly patient Konan was starting to get irked with the complaining and he was curious which one of them would snap first and kill him. Fortunately—or unfortunately—it never came to that as after a miserable two hour walk, they arrived at Amegakure’s entrance. Immediately, Perimeter Patrol, Takeshi and Satoshi, greeted them excitably, like two dogs upon their owner returning home, babbling on about God and Angel and the Akatsuki like everytime anyone affiliated with the organization came around. Konan humoured them until the gate was dropped then bid them farewell and two men tripped over each other waving her goodbye and blessing the ground she walked upon.

Upon entrance in the industrialized city, Kakuzu’s gaze was instantly drawn to a building in the distance. It was hard not to notice it with its skyscraping height and bizarre choice of architecture. When he last saw it, it was enveloped in a metal skeleton with wooden walkways that carpenters traveled on as they laboured over welding the steel plates together. That ugliness was now gone, leaving behind the finished project that could be considered equally, if not uglier. This tower was tall, easily dwarfing every and any other structure in the capital and fashioned with massive piping that served no purpose except aesthetic. That demonic face he spied soldered on the side was now joined with three others, all with unique but hideous features including one with its tongue stuck out; each stared out over the capital with its replicated Rinnegan like a mechanized god. Something told him that tower’s completion had been part of Sir Leader’s preparations.

Konan led them to god-knows-where, though Kakuzu presumed it to be the tower, the metal-plated streets clanging noisily under their feet as they walked over them. As they walked past the drenched citizens, dressed head-to-toe in their waterproof ponchos and a few greeting them through rebreathers, he noticed something peculiar. At first, he thought it was his old, senile brain playing tricks on him, but after examining himself, including the boxes tucked under his arm, then Sasori and Konan marching in front of him, it confirmed his suspicions. Especially when considering Sasori was quiet on such perfect bitching material.

“The rain,” He spoke up and Konan spared him a side-eyed gaze over her shoulder. “Why aren’t we getting wet?”

Upon hearing this, Sasori glanced down at himself, discovering he was drier than the wastelands of Suna despite being on the wettest place on earth besides the ocean. “Wait, what the fuck?”

“Rain isn’t wet?!” Zetsu gasped, swiping her hand through the falling water that left no moisture on her skin as she did. Yet, she felt its cold.

“Oh yes, now would be a perfect time to explain the rain in Amegakure. Yes, as its namesake, it does rain in Amegakure, but it is manufactured.” Konan said, lifting a hand and cupping the water inside it that then poured out between her fingers. “Sir Leader is that one controls it and its main function is detecting foreign chakra signatures of anyone that may’ve infiltrated the village. However, those considered to be of importance do not feel the wetness of the rain. Currently that is: Sir Leader himself, myself, and members of the Akatsuki.”

“So…it’s a genjutsu?” Sasori inquired.

“It is a jutsu but not a genjutsu. Both Sir Leader and I can use it.”

“Ooh, so awesome!” Zetsu gushed.

“That’s fucken insane.” That could’ve been mistaken as a compliment too but with Sasori, nothing was a compliment.

Kakuzu wanted to know why this exception hadn’t existed during the several times he had to tread through the waterlogged city, but he wasn’t complaining. Whatever saved his hair from the nightmare of frizzing, he’d happily take.  

They changed direction, leaving the claustrophobic town center for quieter thoroughfare towards that of the tower, as Kakuzu anticipated. As they neared it, he felt a tugging on his hand and stared back at Zetsu walking behind him. She pointed at the tower, likely to question him on it.

“Why is there seven Sir Leaders?” She asked instead, taking him aback.

“What?”

“There’s seven Sir Leaders.” She explained, pointing at the top of the structure where the two largest heads were located, counting one then dragged her finger down until it was directed at the ground and numbered to seven. “Why?”

He didn’t know how to answer that because he didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, so he decided to ignore her instead as he went back to facing forward. As he did, he saw Konan staring at them and caught a mildly disquieted expression etched in her features before she turned away. Thankfully, Zetsu didn’t insist with her bizarre question. Kakuzu also ignored the fact she kept her tiny hand tucked in his.

“Don’t tell me we’re goen to that ugly ass builden.” Sasori moaned and threw his hands up, referencing the tower of which the waggling tongue face was staring down at them like a horrific, haunted attraction in a carnival.

Konan winced from the comment, obviously offended but said nothing. “No, it is not. Our destination is coming up.” She said, much to Kakuzu’s curiosity. If it wasn’t the disaster of artist liberties, then where we they going exactly?

After being led through a few shady back alleys, a bustling marketplace, and poor neighbourhoods, suddenly, they were standing outside a mansion. It came out of nowhere too; they just turned a corner and bam, it was there. Kakuzu had flinched it was so surprising. This couldn’t be it, could it?

“Here it is,” Konan proclaimed, holding an arm out to the residence. Like it needed anymore introduction. “This, is the Akatsuki Manor.”

The dubbed “Akatsuki Manor” was a single-story chateau; a hybrid of wood and steel. It was hedged by a ten-foot brick wall snarled with creeping ivy to prevent eavesdropping with a torii gate that had the Akatsuki symbol burned into the metal. It opened into a garden made up of fake grass and trees, because the everlasting rain would kill any actual vegetation, and a pebbled walkway that transformed into a bridge that led to mansion’s entrance; underneath the bridge was a pond. Zetsu squealed upon seeing the colourful koi swimming in the crystal-clear water and Kakuzu had to hold onto her hand so she didn’t fall into it while she cooed at the fish. There was a second building off the beaten path besides the home, smaller but designed like a chapel with strained glass windows and marble pillars. It wasn’t part of the tour, however. Konan welcomed them inside the manor, holding open the door as they stepped into a large entryway of beautiful grey bamboo flooring and walls.

“Is this what the funding went to?” Kakuzu asked humourlessly as he kicked off his boots, so it wasn’t mistaken as a light-hearted joke.

“No, this was here before. We just…renovated it.” Konan replied ambiguously, setting down the box and helping Zetsu get her shoes off, arranging them aptly with her own sandals on the step.

“This is way fucken better than that ugly cabin.” Sasori injected his two-cents, much to Kakuzu’s offense. In his humble opinion, the cabin was perfect until the little terrorists arrived.

“I’ll show you where everything is.” Konan said and the ducklings followed her in an orderly fashion.

Much like a school, the manor was built of hallways and rooms in a square shape with an open courtyard in the middle. There was a sitting room with television and seating that had a sliding door that led outside into an exterior, closed-in hallway; a kitchen with a outside view; a meditation room and a washroom. The hallway led to the master-sized bedrooms, ten in total, and opened up into the garden with a glass roof that Konan mentioned could be used as a training area.

“That should be everything,” Konan mentioned as she walked them back into the living area. “You can pick your bedrooms and drop off your things. I have obligations but I’ll be back in approximately an hour to take us to our next destination for a meeting. Should that be enough time for everyone to be settled?” She received a half-hearted shrug from Kakuzu but accepted it. With a gentle kiss goodbye on Zetsu’s bruised cheek, she took her leave. Once Konan was gone, Sasori immediately hurried off to pick out the best bedroom first like the spoilt brat he was.

Kakuzu turned to Zetsu, adjusting her bag of goodies he had lugged this entire way. “Girl, did you see a bedroom you wanted? You better pick now before the boy does.”

“Oh, umm…I don’t know,” Zetsu muttered, staring down at her pink socks as she shuffled her feet and twiddled her thumbs. “We don’t share?”

“No, we’re going to have our own bedrooms now.”

“Oh…what room did…did you want, Sir?”

He piqued an eyebrow at her. “Why?”

“Umm…because…because I want the room next to you.” She finally admitted, staring up at him through a black eye and smiling at him with puffy lips. “So, we can stay together!”

Kakuzu couldn’t explain what he just experienced, but it was like an invisible force punched him the chest and all five of his hearts skipped a beat. It left him breathless and with the inexplainable hankering to scoop up the girl and hug her for what she said. He’d never do something so ridiculous though. Instead, he pounded a fist on his chest to get his hearts in rhythm again and vociferously cleared his throat.

“A-Alright,” He replied, cursing himself for the weak stutter that infiltrated his speech.

There was a popping noise and stench of smoke mingled with the fresh scent of rain in the air. On the other side of the corridor, one of the paper doors was open and Sasori was inside the room, activating the scrolls that held his belongings. Kakuzu did not want to be near the boy or god forbid share a wall with him, so he browsed the rooms on the opposite side. After a bit of back and forth, he made his decision.

“I’ll be taking this one.” He told Zetsu and pointed at the bedroom that was one of two that made up a corner.

“Ok! Then I want this one!” She chirped, pointing at its cornering neighbour.

“Alright, girl. If we’re going to be sharing a wall, so you must be quiet and not disturb me, understand?” He wasn’t too worried with her being loud as when she was perfectly quiet while staying in his room, but he didn’t want her thinking that just because she had her own bedroom, she could party every night.

“Understood!” She pulled open the sliding door to her new bedroom and ran inside. He left the sack of her stuffed animals on the inside of the door then entered his own new bedroom.

Bedroom? No, he had misspoken. It was a house; it was huge, easily the size of the cabin, perhaps slightly larger. The ceiling was high with a fan lazily spinning overhead and the flooring and walls had the same bamboo finish as the rest of the house. It was furnished too. There was a large kotatsu in the middle of the room, a desk, a queen-sized bed and a wardrobe. It even had its own heating and air conditioning. There was a second glass door that led to a private patio area over the water that was canaled into a stream. Except having to purchase a bookcase and sharing a bathroom with two teenagers again, it was an upgrade and for once, Kakuzu considered it to be a good investment for the organization. Plus, he liked having his privacy back.

After putting away his clothes, he decided to check in on Zetsu and found her practically bouncing off the walls as she gushed over her new room. Once seeing him, she grabbed his hand and using impressive strength, dragged him around her room as she showcased everything to him. It was the same as his, but he said nothing and just let her give him a tour. “Look at my bed!” She squealed, pointing at the bed then at the heated table. “Look at that thing!”, (he had to explain to her what a kotatsu was) and when she discovered the outside patio and the fact she could watch the fish swimming by, she lost it, letting out the highest pitched scream that made the koi splash away and Kakuzu cringe. He checked his ear with his pinky in case it was bleeding. Sasori’s own nails-on-chalkboard voice screamed, “shut the fuck up!” from the other side of the complex. Kakuzu patted her on the head and told her to put her things away then left to finish unpacking also.

An hour later, like promised, Konan had returned. When she entered the house, she found Sasori ransacking the kitchen, searching through the cabinets and fridge, all of which were empty, and complaining loudly there was so food and he was starving in the whiniest voice achievable; and Konan, being a maternal woman, ignored him and went on to check on Kakuzu and Zetsu.

Kakuzu was spending the little free time he had to write a lengthy letter when someone knocked on his door. “Come in.” He granted, hiding the personal message in his desk and turning in his chair as Konan opened the door and stepped inside.

She stole a glimpse around his room then her kindling iris landed on him. “Are you unpacked?” She asked curiously.  

Given his lack of material possessions, he could understand why she’d be confused, thinking he hadn’t done anything yet when he nothing left to unpack; his clothes in the wardrobe, paperwork stashed in his desk and novel collection kept safe in its box until he could acquire a bookcase. “Yes.”

“Ok, do you know which room is Zetsu’s?”  

“It’s the room next door.” He answered, pointing to his right.

“Oh, she’s staying next to you?”

“Yes, she wanted us to stay together.” And Konan gave him this skeptical stare, like he was bullshitting her, and she couldn’t and didn’t want to believe the implication that Zetsu was starting to like him, especially after how horribly he treated her in the beginning. He found it unbelievable too. More so with the possibility he might like her back, but the mostly because he found her to be the the lesser of two evils when compared to the infinite evil that was Sasori. 

“Ok, can you please get Sasori?”

He heaved a heavy sigh but muttered, “Sure.” Konan left to the room besides his as instructed to get Zetsu.

She found Zetsu in her room, occupied with stacking her plushies in the corner, replicating an avalanche, and hadn’t put her things away yet so Konan quickly did it for her. Afterward, she helped her change out blood-splattered clothing she was still wearing from this morning and ushered her to the sitting room where Kakuzu was lounging in the new recliner, just Kakuzu though.

“Where’s Sasori?” She asked him and checked the wall clock. She didn’t have time for this, she didn’t want to make Pein wait too long. This meeting was important for the Akatsuki.

Kakuzu shrugged, arms folded behind his head and eyes shut. “I don’t know. He isn’t in his room and I can’t find him anywhere else.”

“He was in the kitchen last I saw him and…oh no.”

Turns out, Sasori hadn’t lied about being starving. It was a half-an-hour that they had to wait for the redhead to return. When he finally did, he casually walked into the sitting room as if he hadn’t just disappeared without a trace, a fast-food takeout bag clenched in his hand, and everyone stared at him; Zetsu was staring at him while it was Kakuzu and Konan glaring at him, their combined glowering hot enough to melt steel.

He just shrugged it off. “I told you I was hungry.” He swiveled on his foot to take his food to the kitchen and eat but didn’t have the chance when Kakuzu was on him, snatching his meal out of his hand. “What the fuck!?” Kakuzu didn’t reply, instead, he walked outside the front entrance and turned the bag upside-down, emptying the contents into the water and the koi happily munched on the sandwich. Sasori lost it.

“What the fuck!?” He screamed again, shrieking like a banshee but face red like the devil. “My fucken food! That’s all the money I had, you bastard!” He clenched his puppet hand into a fist and from the wrist, ejecting the sword hidden inside. He charged at Kakuzu, waving the blade at him in an attempt to stab him but the senior activated his Earth Spear and easily slapped the weapon away as though it was a plastic toy.

“Oh, get over it. You ate this morning.” 

“Yes—this mornen, you fuckface! I’m goen to starve because there ain’t any food here!”

“We just got here so of course there’s no fucking food!”

“Why didn’t anyone bring the food over from that shit cabin in the woods!?”

“If you want that food, then you can go back and eat it.”

“Fuck you!”

“Please,” Konan pled, interrupting the ludicrous argument happening between the two males. “We’re late for the meeting and I do not want to make Sir Leader wait any longer. After it’s finished, we’ll all go out to eat? How is that?”

“But I’m hungry now!” Sasori cried and stomped his foot, acting not like a fifteen-year-old teenager but a five-year-old child. Zetsu behaved more mature than him and she had the mental process of a four-year-old, Kakuzu thought, shaking his head.

After a bit more negotiation between the spoilt teenager and two adults, it was decided they’d dine after this important meeting and it’d be at a five-star restaurant upon Sasori’s demand, as compensation for his wasted last thousand ryō. Once that melodrama finished, they herded the children out of the house and hurried off to the overdue gathering. Turns out, said meeting took place in the “ugly ass builden” (much to Sasori’s chagrin) as Konan chaperoned them to the tower which was within spitting distance of their new home.

The reinforced metal doors could only be opened from inside, not outside to prevent intruders and upon entrance of the massive ground floor, it was sickly humid with hot steam leaking from the pipeage and loud with the bone-chilling noise of metal grinding on metal caused by the turning of huge metal gears that powered the flickering lanterns hung overhead. In the middle of the chamber was a circular glass capsule the top of which was interconnected with a pully system—it was an elevator. It was large enough so the four of them could fit inside and have elbow room. There was a control panel that had a dozen, brass buttons, none of which were labeled to which floor they led. Konan pushed five of the buttons in quick succession as if she was dialing a number pad on a phone. Kakuzu quirked a brow, a gesture she caught onto.

“You’ll be taught the codes during the meeting.” She explained, mistaking his look for confusion as that of curiosity. He just shrugged.

She pressed a big button on the bottom of the console which caused the glass doors to slide shut then, a set of gears independent for the others started turning with a wheeze and heave of smoke and the elevator started chugging upwards. Zetsu gasped excitedly, loving riding in elevators and pressed her fast to the glass to watch the metallic walls pass by. Kakuzu, in the meanwhile, clutched the handrail and squeezed shut his eyes, scowling. Elevators, especially the ones with windows, gave him vertigo. He hated them. It wasn’t a quick ride either as they headed to the top and considering how preposterously tall the tower was, it took them an entire minute to reach the top. When they reached their floor, the elevator decreased to a stop and chirped happily as the doors opened into a second set of doors. They stepped through them into a dark room, only faintly illuminated by gas lanterns lining the walls. Zetsu hugged onto Kakuzu’s leg, having a fear of the darkness and he petted her head to calm her.

Konan walked off, vanishing into the blackness and a few seconds later, copper blinds on other side of the room were cracked open, immediately flooding the room with the outside, muted lighting and exposing they were inside a sizable conference room. It had oblong table, long enough to fit a dozen chairs plus one at each end and the chairs themselves were comfortable-looking leather office chairs. Konan cranked them open enough so that Amegakure’s skyline could be admired through them but being high enough that no one could spy through back at them.

“You can sit anywhere with the expectation of the chair at the end; that one belongs to Sir Leader.” She said but didn’t specify which end chair would be their superior’s due to both end chairs and every other chair being identical. “I’ll be right back after I get him.”

After she left, being the little shit-eater he was, Sasori decided to seat himself in Sir Leader’s chair like he was just explicitly told not to do. “Alright, I’m mayor of Fucktown now,” He proclaimed, leant back in the chair with his hands behind his head and feet kicked onto the table, grinning smugly. “An’ as mayor, you two are fired! Now get out!” Kakuzu just rolled his eyes and took a seat on the opposite end of the table to avoid the red-haired brat with Zetsu plopping down in the chair beside him.

When she discovered it could swivel, she gave herself a few spins, giggling and gradually spinning herself faster and faster until she was a blur. After a minute of this, Kakuzu caught her chair to cease the motion, the spinning making him dizzy and a tad nauseous. Her fun ended, she decided to look out the window instead but as she got up, she stumbled a few steps before her vertiginous brain sent her toppling to the ground. Sasori barked obnoxiously with laughter while pointing at her. She recovered quickly and ran over, oohing and awing at the view down below. Sasori scooted his chair behind her and he kicked her in the backside, sending her lurching a step towards the glass. She screamed out in fear when she perceived herself coming within inches of falling to her death, despite the fact the metal blinds would’ve prevented that, and fled back to Kakuzu as Sasori crowed like Sunagakure’s national bird: the kookaburra. She was sniveling and the felon ruffled her hair while glaring at the boy across the table.

After a bit of this, Zetsu perked up from her near-death experience and decided to pick a fight with Kakuzu, ducking out from underneath his hand and punching her hand into his palm. It was play though, something he picked up on and held up his hands, letting her use them as punching bags as she practiced her punches. At one point, she tried to be clever and bop her fist into his chin, but he tilted his head back then gently thwacked his open hand on her forehead. Zetsu squealed with laughter from the pretend attack and even Kakuzu found himself smirking in a rare moment of weakness.

After approximately ten minutes, Konan returned with Sir Leader in tow. Upon entering the seminar room, the origamitress’s eagle-like gaze instantly pinpointed Sasori, sat in the chair she had advised everyone not to sit in. She glared at him with manicured hands balled, her metaphorically teapot boiling over. Sir Leader, on the other hand, didn’t appear the least bit fazed with having his designated chair stolen. Instead, he sat down in the other available end seating, besides the feuding Kakuzu and Zetsu. Kakuzu put an end to their game but not before Zetsu got in one hit, jostling his sunglasses on his nose. Konan sat next to her partner which left Sasori by himself on the other side of the lengthy table.

“Hello, Sir Leader,” Zetsu greeted politely, grinning, obviously having gotten over her initial intimidation of him.

The ginger’s pierced lips twitched into what could be mistaken as a smile. “Hello, Zetsu. How are you?”

“I’m ok.” She answered despite her face replicated an abstract painting with splashes of blues and blacks.

“I’m glad. How do you like your new home?”

“I like it a lot!”

“It has quite the intricate architecture. It must’ve used a lot of our funds to build it.” Kakuzu interjected his opinion as subtly as a punch to the face, eyeballing the other man.

Picking up what Kakuzu was putting down, Sir Leader shook his head. “It cost us nothing except to furnish it and clean the blood stains. The Akatsuki ‘acquired’ the manor. It was Hanzō’s clan home.”

“So, you stole it after you killed him and his family?”

“Yes.” While Kakuzu wasn’t thrilled to be now living in the house of a slaughtered clan, including that of Amegakure’s tyrannical leader, at least it wasn’t why he had been forced into slave labour these last few months. However, he couldn’t say this tower was worth it either. 

“Now then, I’d like to start by thanking everyone for their presence here today,” Sir Leader stated. “And—”

“What!?” Sasori interrupted him with a yell, his voice ricocheting loudly off the empty walls. He had his ear cupped due to being out of earshot. “I can’t hear you!”

Sir Leader let out a small, sharp exhale of air through his nose and closed his eyes, for the first time, frustrated by Sasori’s antics. Konan looked readied to get up and give the boy an overdue spanking of his lifetime. “Kakuzu, would you kindly seat Sasori closer so we may begin?”

It wasn’t established that it had to be done with gentleness as Kakuzu got up and marched over to the teenager. He grabbed Sasori by the arm and the boy let out a deafening scream of “pedophile!”. Konan got up to shield Zetsu’s poor, innocent ears from the incoming swearing but Pein beat her to it, leaning over and cupping the girl’s ears for her. Sasori struggled as Kakuzu lifted him from the chair, thrashing and kicking the older man in the shins while screeching like a child with behavioural issues. Kakuzu had triggered his Doton, otherwise, he’d be in a lot of pain right now. Dragging the lashing puppeteer, he brought him around the table then picked him over his head and slammed him down in the chair beside Konan. It squealed and made a crunch noise but amazingly, didn’t collapse into a million pieces of plastic.

Kakuzu went back to his seat and Sasori straightened up, brushing back his messy locks and fuming at him. If he tried anything, Konan was prepared with her skin peeling back into white sheets to inflict painful paper cuts. Thankfully, he just slumped in his chair with his arms crossed and split bottom lip puckered.

Now that everything was said and done, Sir Leader cleared his throat to start again. “As I was saying, thank you everyone for being here today. What I want to speak to you all about is the Akatsuki: what we are, the future of this organization and our ultimate goal.”

“We’re a mercenary group that works for shit money but goen to make millions so we can afford fucken food?” Sasori guessed aloud, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Hush!” Konan scolded him, pressing a finger to her painted lips but Sir Leader laid a hand on her shoulder to pacify his partner.

“No, he is partially correct. The Akatsuki is a mercenary group and we do accept assignments for little money. While it has handicapped us finically, our name has spread throughout the nations and we’ve been contacted directly by Kages to take missions or fight in the Third War on their behalf. Now that’ve we’ve garnered their trust, we’re going to gradually increase our prices while remaining below that of our competitors. Eventually, they’ll be driven out of business and the countries will be dependent on the Akatsuki for their missions.”

“So, in twenty years, we’ll be making millions?” Kakuzu asked, summarizing what Sasori said and fighting not to say it sarcastically also though it was implied. 

“Yes, because it twenty years, we’ll be creating wars to capitalize on.”

“How so?”

“Using the Bijuu.” The air was sucked out the room leaving behind a strangling sensation in everyone’s chest. It was so casually said too like he was mentioning the weather and not the tailed beasts that had been terrorized the world for the past thousand years.

Zetsu, lost on everything said so far, tugged on Kakuzu’s sleeve. “What’s a Bijuu?” She asked him quietly. He hushed her, patting her head and telling he’d explain it to her later to which she huffed. He never explained anything later.  

“Are you fucken insane?” Sasori yowled, sitting up now and punching his fists on the table. “The fucken Bijuu?”

“What are you expecting us to do, catch the Bijuu as if they were butterflies?” Kakuzu questioned next in disbelief. “Then once we do have them, how the hell do you except us to control them? They’re own Jinchuuriki cannot control them.”

“The hows and whys shall be answered at a later date. The capture and weaponization of the Bijuu is the second part of the Akatsuki’s ultimate goal. Currently, we are in part one: obtain enough money to support the organization. So, do not concern yourself with the then, but the now.”

“I don’t wanna be in this fucken organization until ‘then’.” Sasori mumbled, folding his arms on the table and burrowing his face in them.

Even Kakuzu found himself a bit overwhelmed. He had joined the Akatsuki after being approached by Sir Leader for the easy—but little—money. If he had known that sometime down the line the organization was going to be snagging up the nine Bijuu, he would’ve laughed. While using them as WOMDs for wars was brilliant though taboo, he couldn’t help but be curious how the hell Sir Leader expected to rule demonic creatures so uncontrollable and destructive they required being jailed inside human prisons to prevent them from ending the world.

“I understand such a goal is preposterous for a mercenary group,” Sir Leader said, it being the understatement of eternity. “But it’ll be the greater good.”

Sasori snorted crudely. “Greater good?”

Kakuzu shook his head at the farfetched motive and Zetsu just stared, trying her best to understand what was happening but failing.

“Like I said, that is going to be ‘then’. For the ‘now’, we require funds. Currently, we have five members separated into two groups, that being Konan and I, then Kakuzu, Sasori and Zetsu. This is a poor business practice if we want to maximum our profits with our low prices. So, we’ll be hiring new members and dividing everyone up into partnerships; a partnership will consist of two members functioning together. Each partnership will be responsible for taking out their own missions and enable more missions to be done at a single time.”

“If you want more missions done, why not let us do them by ourselves?” Sasori asked, bringing up a legitimate question.

“It’s for safety and effectivity. It is too dangerous to send a member on a mission by themselves in case of injury or death. When partnered, two members can protect each other in battle and finish missions more efficiently than one member can. Only one member is going to be functioning by themselves.” As Sir Leader said that, Kakuzu caught the quick glimpse he stole in Zetsu’s direction.

“Can we afford new members?” Kakuzu brought up, arms crossed.

”You can decide that for yourself as, starting today, you are the Akatsuki’s treasurer.” Sir Leader casually mentioned. “Can I trust you with the organization’s funds?”

“Damn right.” Kakuzu grunted. Finally, the recognition he deserved, and he’d be doing the two things he did best: making money and handling money. It’d be like his prison days again.

Sir Leader turned to Sasori next. “Sasori, what do you think of intelligence gathering? You must have experience with it, having fought in the Third World War, correct?”

“If you mean brainwashen Konoha pommies an’ senden them back to spy an’ kill their own mates? Then yes.” Sasori gave him the most pretentious smirk.

“So, would you be interested?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I’m great at manipulaten people an’ getten what I want.” Kakuzu and Konan gifted him the flattest stare. Talk about the understatement of the year.

“Alright then, next, I’d like to discuss the next important topic of this meeting: the organization’s uniform. It’ll be a black cloak decorated with the Akatsuki’s symbol: red clouds, and your choice of one of three outfits. You are required to wear this uniform on mission so clients can identify you as being with the organization. Also, each member is going to be given a ring and required to paint their nails…”

“Excuse me?”

“Whaaat!?” Sasori exclaimed, grabbing his hair in a dramatic display. “You tryen to turn us into fruitcakes or somethen!?”

“No, I am not. The…”

“I am _not_ wearing nail polish.” Kakuzu established firmly.

“An’ I ain’t wearen jewelry!”

Sir Leader opened his mouth to try and speak again when Konan, who had stayed mum during the meeting thus far, spoke up for him. “Would you kindly shut up so he can explain!?” She barked at the two males, stealing her partner’s trademark line. Instantly, it went quiet as both misogynists glared at her for speaking to them like that. Zetsu sank into her chair, disliking the woman’s yelling despite it not being pinpointed at her.

“As I was trying to say,” Sir Leader sighed and massaged his temples, the continuous interruptions and shouting plaguing him with the beginning signs of a headache. “Each has an individual importance; it is not for fashion. The rings will signify one's membership to the Akatsuki. It has a second function also, but that’ll be explained at a later date. The nail polish also signifies one's membership and depending on the colour chosen, will have a secret phrase associated with it. This will prevent intruders from entering Amegakure if a member is mimicked physically through a jutsu, as they’ll be asked the code which their nail colour represents and a doppelganger will have no such knowledge.”

“Can’t you just give us the codes without us having to paint our nails?” Kakuzu asked.

Sir Leader stared at him and unblinking, said, “No.” Kakuzu just sighed and turned his head away, realizing he could argue until he was blue in the face but in the end, he wouldn’t win.

“Hmm, I believe that to be everything. Does anyone have any questions before this meeting is concluded?” Sasori raised his hand. “Yes, Sasori?”

“Are we goen to be fucken paid or what?” He inquired, bluntly.

“Yes. For each mission successfully completed, the Akatsuki shall take eighty percent of the profits and the team responsible of the mission shall earn twenty percent. That’ll then be split in half between partners ten and ten.”  

“What!? That ain’t enough to eat off of!”

“Yes, it is,” Kakuzu parenthesized. “Example: if you and your partner finish an assassination mission which paid out one-hundred thousand ryō, then twenty percent of that is twenty-thousand and you and your partner get ten-thousand each. That’s plenty to feed yourself for the week if you don’t waste it on junk food.” The last sentence was a slight in reference to the incident today.

Sasori caught onto it. “Fuck you an’ your damn math lesson.” He snarled through gritted teeth.

“Any other questions?” Zetsu’s hand flew up with such suddenness that it made Kakuzu flinch.

“Yes, hunny?” Konan asked her in a sweet manner.

“Why is there seven Sir Leaders?” She parroted the question she had asked Kakuzu earlier then unintentionally but rudely pointed at Sir Leader.

Konan stiffened up, face plastered into a horror-struck expression like the girl had asked the colour of her underwear and Kakuzu felt mortified for her. He was going to berate Zetsu for asking such an outlandish question and pointing, which he slapped her hand down, when Sir Leader stepped in. Of everyone, he should be the one angered, being put on the spot like that, but he wasn’t.

“There is not seven of me, but I understand why you might think that, given your sensitivity to chakra due to the Mayfly. What you’re sensing is the rain which is infused with chakra. It might be what is confusing you.” It was such a simplistic yet suspicious explanation, especially when Konan uttered a quiet sigh and her shoulders dropped like an invisible weight had been lifted off them. That, and it conflicted with what was said earlier about the rain. Kakuzu smelt bullshit but said nothing. “Anything else?”

“Umm…what’s a Bijuu?”

“It’s a tailed beast. Anything else?”

Finally, Zetsu lowered her hand, shaking her head, her lips downturned into a frown. She wasn’t too satisfied with the answers she received but she didn’t want to get in trouble by asking too many questions. Sir didn’t like it when she did that and she didn’t think Sir Leader would either.

“Does anyone else have a question?” He gave it a few seconds during which no one said anything. “Perfect. Now Konan, would you kindly give everyone their rings?”

Konan stood up and from the front pocket of her cloak, produced a wooden box. She opened it and plucked one of the rings from it, then turned to Sasori, holding it out to him. He accepted it and held it up in the light as he examined it with a disgusted expression. She then rounded the table and fetched another ring from the box that she handed to Kakuzu. He analyzed his also. It was polished silver with a dark green emblem in the middle marked “hoku”. He wasn’t into jewelry, but it wasn’t _too_ hideous. That didn’t mean he liked it though.

Sir Leader explained. “Sasori, your ring is “gyoku” and is to be worn on your left thumb. Kakuzu, yours is “hoku” and on your left middle finger.”

“What the fuck does that mean an’ why do we have to wear them on specific fingers?” Sasori demanded, jabbing the ring onto his thumb and holding out his hand as he considered it.

“That’ll be explained at a later time.”

“Which ring is Zetsu to be given?” Konan asked her partner, now facing Zetsu who was bouncing in her chair as she eagerly anticipated the piece of jewelry.

“Zetsu isn’t receiving a ring but she is not a member of the Akatsuki yet.”

“What?” Kakuzu and Konan asked in unison.

“While she has made a lot of progress from what I have personally witnessed and she had hold her own in a fight, but I do not believe she is yet prepared to be declared a member.” Sir Leader clarified, shuffling in his seat from the death glare he was subject of from the blue-haired woman.

“Why not? You said she’s made process and can fight.” She challenged him.

“Yes, that I did. Kakuzu, how is process with the Mayfly?”

“Err…” Kakuzu muttered. “It’s been temporarily put on hold.” His answer, or rather, lack thereof, was enough for Sir Leader.

“Until Zetsu has mastered the Mayfly, I cannot grant her membership to the organization. My apologies, Konan.”

Konan frowned but understood so she didn’t attempt to dispute it. Instead, she stared down at Zetsu and smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you’ll have to wait a little longer, ok?” Zetsu frowned back, more upset she wouldn’t be getting a shiny ring then not being a member.

“Konan is going to take your measurements for your new uniforms then you are dismissed.” Sir Leader stood up, bowing and turned his back to take his leave but paused. “Oh yes, and one last thing. You three shall be the pioneering members of the Akatsuki, therefore I grant you permission to call me either Sir Leader or Pein.”

“Pein?” Kakuzu inquired curiously.

Sir Leader, or Pein, nodded. “Yes, that is my name. Consider it an honour.”

Sasori gave a spitting laugh. “Pein? What, like penis?” Kakuzu unexpectedly snorted then cleared his throat to hide his snickering. He wasn’t laughing for long when Zetsu predictably turned to him and asked him with a penis was.  

Pein turned his head, delivering the teenager a melancholy look due to the filthy pun of his name. On the other hand, Konan had finally been pushed to her breaking point with the boy’s behaviour and unleashed her paper jutsu on him, her outstretched arms turning white and the skin peeling off into paper sheets that folded them into origami shapes. Sasori fell backwards in his chair, squealing and thrashing on the ground as he was stung by an angry swarm of paper bees.

It was now that Pein took his leave, decided to lay down for an hour to nurse his headache and question his life choices.

After everything was said and done, like promised to Sasori, they went out to eat at a five-star restaurant. However, Sasori wasn’t too pleased when the “restaurant” turned out to be a five-star rated burger joint and when he tried complaining, both adults stared him down and told him, “you said five-stars”.

Meanwhile, Zetsu got a chocolate milkshake and toy and was as happy as could be, getting over the fact she hadn’t gotten a pretty ring too.


	34. Arc 2: Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone adjusts to their new life in the Akatsuki and a new member joins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Med), Genderbend, OC (Original Character)

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 33**

Life in Amegakure was parts news and old. 

Sasori continued to harass Zetsu but found a new way of doing so. He had repaired Hiruko and would walk around inside the puppet. Zetsu was terrified of Hiruko, since it was who attacked her in Sunagakure, so naturally Sasori used it to terrorize her; chasing her around the house while cackling and trying to stab her with its scorpion-este tail until she ran into Konan or hid inside Kakuzu’s room. At least as his Hiruko persona with his dry humour and sarcasm, Sasori was tolerable, as tolerable as rectal cancer but tolerable. If anything, he quit picking on her outside his puppet because Kakuzu had told her if he tried anything to punch in the face and on two occasions, the two teenagers had gotten into a blow-out fight, fists flying and legs kicking and Kakuzu had to pull them off each other. After that, Sasori only tormented her as Hiruko so Kakuzu figured he realized she wasn’t a push over anymore. 

Kakuzu, on the other hand, became occupied with his new position as the Akatsuki’s treasurer and spent his days crunching numbers and signing paperwork. Due to this, he couldn’t spend the time he had training Zetsu and the girl ended up neglecting her training as a result. Konan had introduced her to the library, so she spent all day either reading the ten books she checked out for that week or watching movies on their new, theater-sized television. Kakuzu had walked in on her couch-potatoing a few times while going to the kitchen for tea.

“Girl.” He barked at her and she paused the animated movie she was watching to hesitantly peek over the couch at him. “How is your training going?”

“Umm…” She mumbled but the answer was obvious.

“You have to train. Just because I have nothing left to teach you doesn’t mean you’ve learned everything and are finished. If you don’t keep your skills sharpened, they’ll fail you in a time of need. Konan got you a library card, didn’t she? If you need guidance, then rent books on taijutsu or videos or whatever else. I’m positive you could find something on the Mayfly too. You have to perfect it if you want to become an Akatsuki member. You want that, right?”

Zetsu nodded. “Yes, sir.”

To her credit, after finishing her books and movies, she asked Konan to take her to the library and checked out everything she could on taijutsu then spent the week studying up on them. One of which was a video tape on the different types of taijutsu from each nation. She found herself rewinding on the portion for Kumogakure’s trademark taijutsu with a complicated name she couldn’t begin to pronounce, and watched, mystified as the people on the screen performed intricate flips and spins which were considered fighting moves. She tried to mimic them but fell on her head whenever she tried flipping or skinning her elbows and knees during the spins. It did little to deter her though and she rented the movie week after week to practice.

When she wasn’t “training”, she was studying. With their new residence in Amegakure, it took no time at all for Konan to get back and forth between the manor and Pein’s office. So, she suddenly had a lot more free time, including Sundays off, and used it to homeschool Zetsu, playing the role of teacher. She purchased textbooks and materials and turned the living room into a classroom as she taught her in writing, maths, and sciences with a sprinkle of religious studies also. On days she couldn’t teach her or had to leave to attend her duties, she left the girl with homework to finish before their next sessions. As the material became problematic though, Zetsu found herself having a harder time to do it and do it correctly. So, who did she turn to? Who else.

Kakuzu was the middle of an enigma himself as the numbers didn’t add up and he was searching for the mistake when he heard a knocking on his door. By the quietness of it, he already knew who it was. “Come in.” Zetsu pushed open the door and shut it behind her as she stepped inside his room. “What is it?” He asked her but by the papers she had held in her arms, he suspected what it was.

She laid out the crinkled papers onto his desk and pointed at a math problem that, at first glance, he could tell she had solved incorrectly. “Is this right?”

“No. Neither is number two, four, five, or seven.”

Zetsu frowned as she stared at the wrong answers. So far, she was only on number eight and spent two hours on them too! “Can you help?”

“No, I can’t. I’ve got my own problems.” He said, gesturing at his own paperwork.

“Oh…ok.” She weakly uttered, taking her paper off his desk and clenching it to her chest. Thinking that was that, Kakuzu went back to crunching numbers.

It took him a minute to realize Zetsu hadn’t yet left and when he stole a glance up at her, he was met with the largest puppy dog eyes staring back at him. No, puppy dogs had nothing on how she was staring at him; her caramel eyes so big and glistening. They should be trademarked as Zetsu eyes. For extra effort, she had her bottom lip puckered and quivering too. Kakuzu tried ignoring her pathetic staring at him but after just a few seconds, he threw his hands up, literally.

“Alright! I’ll give you five minutes then you have to let me do my own work, understand?”

“Understood!” She chirped happily and put down her homework again, explaining how she had solved the problems and what she didn’t understand, which was basically everything. It was percentages which was his expertise. He told her the methods taught in her textbook was bullshit then taught her his own technique. After thoroughly explaining it, including writing it out and solving a problem for her, he had her do one herself and unsurprisingly, using his method, she answered it correctly on the first try.

“Woah! You’re so good at numbers, Sir!” Zetsu gushed, going to correct one of the questions she got wrong.

Kakuzu smirked and twirled his pencil with his fingers, complimented by her genuine praise. “It isn’t that difficult once you’ve got the hang of it.”

“Can you teach me more?”

“No. I’m too busy with the Akatsuki’s finances.” Cue the “Zetsu Eyes” (patent pending) once more and almost immediately, he caved. “Fine! But only the ones you can’t solve by yourself! Do not come to me with every little problem you have, understand?”

“Understood!” She picked up her homework and left his room, practically skipping as she did.

Turns out: she lied. If Konan wasn’t present to check the girl’s homework, Zetsu came to him for everything; from spelling errors to math problems as both were her weakest subjects. In the beginning, he’d tell her “no” and pointed at his door, but she’d stare at him with them damned eyes and sometimes mutter out a heartbroken “b-but!” and he’d put down everything to help her. He felt like he was fighting Hashirama again—a losing battle. She had him wrapped around her little finger and the clever girl knew it too. Eventually, she was coming to him every night.

When Zetsu started turning in her assignments with another’s handwriting on them, it didn’t take Konan long to put two and two together as to who it belonged to. She knocked on Kakuzu’s door one day and when he answered, she poked her head inside his room.

“Have you been helping Zetsu with her homework?” She asked.

He replied with an instantaneous “no” and didn’t spare her the slightest glance as he stared down at his financials, tapping his pencil on his desk.   

She opened her mouth to challenge his claim but decided not to say anything. Instead, she just smiled and left. She’d let him have his pride in not having to recognize the fact he had grown soft on the teenager. Besides, Zetsu’s grades had improved greatly with her extra educator.

Pein had told Kakuzu to start encouraging Zetsu to play a greater role during missions and to his credit, the senior tried but between finishing their objection as fast and efficiently as possible, and wrangling two teenagers, things got put on the backburner. So, besides the rare training session, Zetsu spent it in the background, reading while Kakuzu and Sasori did the labour. 

“Why the fuck we bringin’ ‘er with if she ain’t goin’ to do anythin’?” Sasori bellyached in his Hiruko persona, pointing his tail at Zetsu who was tailing behind them, her face buried in a book.

“She’s…learning.” Kakuzu bullshited to which Sasori predictably scoffed.

“We’d be better off leavin’ the bloody bludger behind.” Kakuzu hated admitting Sasori was right in anything, but he was right.

He tried to get Zetsu involved, having her track chakra signatures and get her to pay attention to the details of the mission, telling her how she would have to do this one day. Once upon time, she appeared so interested in such things. But, she didn’t take as serious now as she should be and at this point, he was starting to question if she ever would or ever would become part of the organization and if she didn’t, what would happen to her. The Akatsuki had no room for dead weight, Pein had made this perfectly clear. The thought of it, it made Kakuzu a little sick and he couldn’t explain why that was. It would take something big to get her bound and determined to become an official member, for better or worse—and soon.

Unfortunately, it would have be sooner than he thought.

**…**

It had been approximately two months since their new operation and Kakuzu was doing what he did everyday now: bookkeeping, when Pein rang the imaginary phone inside his head that he picked up. _‘Kakuzu, might I inquire something from you?’_

 _‘Sure.’_ Kakuzu replied, staring down at his paper and spinning his pencil on his fingers.

_‘I’ve been reviewing the statements you’ve given me, and I’d like your opinion before I make this decision as you are the Akatsuki’s treasurer.’_

_‘Alright.’_

_‘I’ve been considering recruiting a new member into the Akatsuki and from what I understand, we have the funds to support an additional person, but I do not want to make such a decision without communication with you first as you control our finances now.’_ While Kakuzu was appreciative that Pein was considering him in such important decisions, he was correct; if he wanted to ruin this organization, he could easily do it with just a pen. He had more power than its own leader did. _‘What do you think?’_

_‘It’s true, we do have the budget for it, though hardly. Sasori hasn’t eaten us out of house and home yet. But, shouldn’t we wait until Zetsu is a member also?’_

There was a long pause of quiet and Kakuzu presumed the call disconnected so was going to back to his work when Pein spoke again. _‘Speaking of Zetsu, how is her training with the Mayfly going?’_ Kakuzu didn’t immediately answer, swallowing thickly. What was he to say that he hadn’t said before? After a few seconds, Pein took his silence as an answer. _‘I’ll speak with Sasori to make preparation for recruiting a new member. Thank you, Kakuzu.’_ Then dead air.

Sighing, Kakuzu leant back into the pillow cushioning his chair, tapping his pencil on his desk. He should’ve told Pein to give it a bit more time until bringing in a new person so Zetsu had a chance to finish her training because if she did that, they’d have no need for someone else. Though he was kidding himself that he could get her to master her bloodline on such short notice and so was Pein thinking what took people years to do she could do in a manner of months. For once though, Kakuzu was going to be optimistic. Perhaps with an additional person, it would give him breathing room to train her personally again. Plus, having an extra hand with missions wasn’t a bad thing. Besides the financial strain and having to deal with someone else (not another teenager, he prayed), there weren’t too many downsides to having a new member so soon.

What’s the worse that could happen?

**…**

Just a month later, Pein called Kakuzu again, telling him he a mission for him and bring Zetsu as they’d be leaving immediately.

He instructed the girl to get dressed and pack up and after doing so himself, pulling him his new Akatsuki cloak, handsewn and tailor-made just for him by Konan, he left for Pein’s Tower, as everyone labeled it, with Zetsu tailgating him, her pink backpack stuffed with books for the trip. When they arrived in Pein’s office, a room the size of the meeting room with nothing in it but a desk, a few chairs and file cabinets inside it and no decoration except the rust corroding metal plated walls, Sasori was present, speaking with their superior.

“Ah, Kakuzu, Zetsu, thank you for your attendance.” Pein greeted them. “Sasori and I were just speaking of the mission: we found a potential member to join the Akatsuki.”

“So soon?” Kakuzu replied, squeezing around Hiruko’s large frame so he could take a seat with Zetsu sitting beside him.

“Yes, Sasori did a brilliant job finding candidates.”

“Tch, all I did was call on’a few ol’ teammates an’ ‘convinced’ ‘em to ‘elp our cause.” Sasori causally mentioned, his shrugging could be heard inside his puppet.

Kakuzu was surprised Pein trusted the redhead to be let out on his own but he hadn’t stolen the chance to run off so perhaps he was turning over a new leaf. “Who is it?” He inquired.

Sasori pulled down his bandana and produced a wanted poster through Hiruko’s gaping mouth like a printer, which he then handed to Kakuzu. “’is name is Kawai Gaku an’ e’s a S-Ranked shinobi from Iwagakure. ‘e was also known as the “Gravedigger” fer ‘is proficiency in Doton jutsu in the Third War.” On the public notice was a picture of a middle-aged man with bronzed complexation and greasy, black hair swept to the side; his cracked-lipped smirk spoke of his egotism while his white-irised eyes were a gateway to something darker, pure evil.

“What did he do to have Iwa put a bounty on him?” Kakuzu eyeballed the large bounty of one-million ryō printed at the bottom and it made his inner green-eyed demon cringe over the fact they would be employing this man instead of trading him in for a cash payout.

“’e’s gotta laundry list of crimes. We’d be ‘ere all day if I told ya everythin’ ‘e did. ‘e’s a sonovabitch, that’s all’ya hafta know.”

“So, where is he?” Kakuzu gave the paper to Zetsu who had been grabbing at it for a better view. Immediately, upon closer inspection, she didn’t like this man’s face and staring at it left a queasy sensation in her tummy. She gave it back, so she didn’t have to look at him anymore.

“I’ve tracked ‘im to a lil’ town outside Konohagakure. ‘e ain’t hidin’ neither. I’m thinkin’ ‘e’s ‘idin’ in plain sight ‘cause ‘e don’t think anyone can catch ‘im.” 

“Let’s get going then.” Kakuzu straightened up, snapping his fingers at Zetsu who bounced up from her chair too.

“Oh, Kakuzu,” Pein called after as the three took their leave. “Would you kindly bring him back in one piece this time?”

Sasori snickered at the call-down while Kakuzu just huffed and stepped into the elevator.

**…**

In a day and a half, they had walked it to the Firelands and approached the township that Kawai Gaku was hiding out in; a little hole-in-the-wall tourist trap on the inner border named Rando.

As they entered from the main road, there was an officer standing underneath the shade, dressed in a uniform three sizes too large and having to persistently push his hat back over his eyes. He noticed them and stepped in the middle of the path, holding up a hesitant hand. He was on the tinier, a lot tinier than the two men, like a child playing dress up but Kakuzu decided to stop, holding back Zetsu, with Sasori halting beside him.

“I-I’m sorry, but can you s-state your business?” The officer stuttered, observing their black cloaks and hidden faces, wide-eyed and pale-faced. If one of them so much as sneezed, he might faint.

“We’re just passing through.” Kakuzu explained calmly. He didn’t want to tell this man their true motive as to why they here. Being told there was a criminal in their little village might cause the local law enforcement to try to detain him themselves, either getting themselves and innocent people killed, or causing Gaku to flee.

“Yes, we’re jus’ takin’ a walk.” Sasori added on in the most innocent yet suspicious tone ever.

Despite this, the smart policemen didn’t take the chance to interrogate them. He muttered a defeated “ok” and backed up to the side with head bowed so they may continue on their way. However, a few steps past and the officer peeped up again. “Sir?” Not positive which “sir” the man was speaking too, Kakuzu paused and presented him a glimpse over his shoulder, eyebrow piqued to his headband. The policeman’s tiny eyes were staring at him from underneath his visor, so it was obvious who he was speaking to. “Please don’t let your daughter out of your sight. We’ve had a string of murders lately…little girls, like yours. I just…I just don’t want anyone else to lose their daughter.” His voice cracked and lips quivered as he said this, as it was evident that just mentioning it disturbed him greatly.

Kakuzu could’ve mentioned the fact Zetsu wasn’t his daughter, but he didn’t want to waste the breath so he just nodded, muttering that he would and grabbing Zetsu’s backpack handle, using it to guide her as they continued walking. Also, so she couldn’t run off now that he had knowledge of a child murderer skulking around.

“Alright, me mates tracked this Gaku bastard to’a bar he likes’ta frequent. Drinks like’a fish, ‘e does. Should be ‘is afternoon drinkin’ ‘our. Follow me.” Sasori led them down the cobblestone walkway while Kakuzu and Zetsu trailed him.

As they walked, the citizens passing them by stopped in their tracks and stared at them with large, frightened gazes; a few parents hiding their children behind them out of sight of the strangers while others gifted a sympathetic glance at Zetsu. Kakuzu felt like he was walking the gallows for a crime he didn’t commit while the crowd stared on—no, it was how it was when he was walking to prison after being arrested on “treason”, except without the name-calling and stinking food being thrown at him. Obviously, the murders had everyone terrified, the parents especially.

After a bit of walking, Kakuzu noticed himself getting slower, like something was weighing him down, and when he glanced back, he discovered Zetsu was digging her heels into the dirt which was the cause of his sudden slow down.

He halted, eyebrow piqued. “Girl, what’re you doing?”

She stared up at him, large topazes switching between him and elsewhere, everywhere. “There’s a bad firefly here!” Obviously, she was speaking of Gaku because a bastard like him having a good “firefly” would’ve surprised him more.

“It’s fine.” He guaranteed her, now hauling her along.

Sooner or later, they located the bar, one that replicated a Sunagakure saloon with its doors and conditioned a glimpse inside at all the boozers. Sasori entered first, a task easier said than done given Hiruko’s large frame, while Kakuzu stayed back. Since Zetsu couldn’t enter with them, he had to leave her behind, but he wasn’t going to leave her by herself. He summoned Rājan, since it was the mask she was most acquainted with, and after telling it to babysit the girl and let nothing happen to her then telling her to stay put and not to leave Rājan’s side, he turned and followed after Sasori had had managed to squeeze his puppet through the entrance, cracking the foundation in the progress.

Inside, it was dark, and the stench of cigarette smoke strangled your lungs and contaminated your clothing. Kakuzu searched for their target but in the bad lighting, all the dipsomaniacs looked alike. Sasori must’ve found him though as he started shambling through the bar, pushing aside a few tables in the process and receiving dirty looks from their inhabitants. One drunkard made the mistake of barking at the puppeteer then standing up in a threatening matter like he was prepared to fight. Well, all it took was Sasori displaying his tail, the metallic joints rattling eerily, and the poison-painted pincer pointed at the man to get him to shrink back into his chair, greasy face greaser with sweat. After that, everyone else was staring at them, bloodshot eyes wide and beer mugs held in a white-knuckled grasp.

Gaku was seated in the back, having not noticed the bustle nor the two men standing next to his table. It took Kakuzu clearing his throat from the criminal to finally leave the bottom of his glass. He grimaced in disgust as his pinpricked gaze interchanged between the two other men. “Aren’t you two a couple of ugly motherfuckers?” He grinned and showcased his yellow turning orange teeth, evidently tickled pink by his own remark.

“Oh? Didn’ realize we ‘ad mirrors strapped our faces.” Sasori smoothly countered, making Kakuzu’s lips briefly twitch into a smirk while Gaku’s smug smiling vanished in favour of scowling. “Yer Kawai Gaku, correct?”

“Tch, and what if I am? What do you two want? Going to arrest me, are you? I’d love to see you try.”

“No, we’ve come to recruit you.” Kakuzu answered. “But, if you deny our offer, then we’ll be arresting you.”

Gaku barked with laughter and chugged back the remainder of his beer, slamming the empty glass on the table and dragging his tongue over his dried lips in a creepy gesture. “Recruit me? To what?”

“’eard of the Akatsuki?”

“The Akatsuki? That the name of your Girl Scout troop?”

At this point, Kakuzu was scowling too. This bastard was starting to get on his nerves and that wasn’t a hard task to accomplish. Sasori wasn’t too pleased either his tail clacked underneath his cloak. “No, it’s a mercenary organization.”

“Mercenary? So, like, getting paid to kill people and start wars?”

“That’sa way to describe it.” Sasori grumbled, eyes barrel-rolling in their sockets.

Gaku tapped the glass to his stubbled chin. “So, you want me to join this Akatsuki?”

“Yes.”

“And in this Akatsuki, I’ll get paid to murder whoever I want?”

“You’ll get _paid_ for finishing the missions _given_.” Kakuzu corrected, his frustrated leaking out as his tone grew terse and he folded his arms, emerald-painted fingers rapping on his arm.

“Hmm…I’ll think on it.” Gaku said and ushered the bartender’s attention by holding up his glass and pointing at it. “Come back after I’ve had a few more drinks.”

“Might I remind you if you aren’t going to take up our offer, then we’ll collect on your bounty instead?” Kakuzu’s arms dropped to his sides and he clenched his dominate hand as his skin hardened into bronze. Sasori replied by withdrawing his tail again and positioning it over his head like a snake prepared to strike.

Gaku glanced at the two men and as the bartender walked over with a pitcher, he waved him over and stood up, again giving them a popcorn smile. “How about this instead? If you two can defeat me, then I’ll join your little organization. How about that? Deal?”

Kakuzu and Sasori exchanged looks and agreed on their decision. “Deal.” Both answered together.

“Great! After you.” Gaku motioned at them to go ahead of him which they took him up on. As they exited the saloon, Sasori kept his tail poised at Gaku to discourage him from trying anything while their backs were turned.

Outside, Zetsu had decided to distract herself from the presence of the bad firefly by practicing her reading. She read out load to Rājan and the lightning elemental bellowed and nodded whenever she turned a page to act like it was listening. In reality, it wasn’t. She heard the doors squeal open and glimpsed over her book to see Kakuzu leaving the bar after what felt like an eternity to her childlike mind. Standing, she left her book and ran to his side as Rājan picked up her things and lumbered behind. She grabbed his hand, smiling up at him, glad to see him and the bad firefly hadn’t hurt him. Just then, Sasori stepped out with Gaku behind him.

Gaku noticed Zetsu and grinned, a “friendly” gesture that succeeded in frightening her. “Well, hello there.” He greeted her. Zetsu hid behind Kakuzu from the person responsible for the bad firefly and Gaku next looked to Kakuzu. “Is that your daughter? She’s a cute little thing.”

Kakuzu didn’t grace him with an answer which included not correcting him. Zetsu was now squeezing his hand, paining the old bitemark there. He leant back his arm so she could hug it. She was shaking and he, for once, didn’t blame her. Something about Gaku was just…off with him. He didn’t like him, but if this was the person Pein wanted for the Akatsuki, then he had no say in this since it’d been proven in the past his opinion on who should and shouldn’t be a member was ignored.

“You know what? I’ve just had a change of heart,” Gaku suddenly proclaimed, slicking back his greasy, black hair and shrugging. “I’ll join this Akatsuki.”

“Brilliant.” Sasori cried, just relieved he wouldn’t have to waste time with a fight that they would end up winning anyway, in his personal opinion. Meanwhile, Kakuzu was suspicious of the out of the blue “change of heart” but said nothing. “Now then, if yer goin’ta join, yer gonna hafta git rid’a that ‘eadband er cross out the symbol on it.” He pointed at the headband tied to Gaku’s head with his tail, the Iwa symbol of which was not blemished—yet.

“Gladly.” Gaku said, pulling it off and chucking it as far as he could where it landed a way off into a cluster of bushes. “Now then, I’ve got just one question: am I going to have to dress as ugly as you two?” He asked, eyeballing their black cloaks like a snobbish fashion designer.

Sasori again rolled his eyes and began shuffling away with Kakuzu closely behind and Gaku tailing them both.

The entire travel back to Amegakure, Kakuzu didn’t let go on Zetsu’s hand and he noticed, the entire travel back also, that Gaku didn’t remove his eyes off her, looking her up and down with ghoulish smirk as if she was a slab of meat.

Kakuzu did not like Kawai Gaku.


	35. Arc 2: Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu and Zetsu go a mission with Gaku and nothing goes right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Genderbend, OC (Original Character), Death/Murder, Mentions of Noncon, Mentions of Suicide, Implications of Pedophilia

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 34**

Once Kawai Gaku joined the Akatsuki, everything grew expectational shittier.

Kakuzu had thought Zetsu was bad, he thought Sasori was worse, but neither of them combined had anything on Gaku. He was everything horrible packaged in human flesh; rude, lazy, obnoxious and disgusting. Once entering the organization, he did nothing but bitch and eat—and he bitched and ate a _lot._

In his first week, he had gormandized through their entire food supply (food meant to feed six people) and Konan had to do an emergency grocery run in the middle of the week because Sasori had discovered the fridge and pantry empty and started complaining he was hungry and going to starve. Gaku had drank all Zetsu’s chocolate milk too (three gallons of it) and she was so sad when she discovered it all gone. It made Kakuzu want to punch the bastard’s ugly face moreso, not for Zetsu but because how much money he had literally eaten through. Gaku didn’t clean up after himself either, leaving dirty dishes and empty packages all over the kitchen until Konan had to clean it because she didn’t want an infestation of ants. It wasn’t like Kakuzu and Sasori were helping either (“it’s a woman’s job”, Sasori had said, and Kakuzu refused to pick up a mess that was not his own).

After this, Konan predictably castigated Gaku, telling him to contain his gluttony because it was everyone’s food and he replied by spewing such misogynist bullshit at her that the slightly sexist Kakuzu himself, who had just entered the kitchen to make tea, was left horrified. He thought Sasori was bad with the occasional “women belong in the kitchen” comment but it was nothing compared to what Gaku said including telling Konan that she shouldn’t speak to him like that unless, “she wanted to be put on her knees”.

If Kakuzu wasn’t mortified by now, then it multiplied by ten when he spied Zetsu, peeking over the couch with large, glistening eyes. She had been in the adjacent living room, watching a movie and within earshot of Gaku’s anti-woman opinions. Once the ex-Iwa shinobi was finished, he delivered the stupefied Konan a supercilious smirk and left, walking past a fuming Kakuzu who glowered at him. How neither he or Konan murdered him that day was a mystery and thankfully, Zetsu never questioned what she heard. That didn’t mean Kakuzu was happy to have had her hear such disgusting and objectionable things towards the female gender. He imagined it must’ve caused damage, even if she didn’t realize it. It wasn’t the only thing to affect her though.

Since Gaku’s recruitment, Zetsu’s behaviour had changed dramatically. She had gone from a happy, outgoing child to being quiet and withdrawn that spent her days quietly reading or watching television, going entire days without speaking to anyone, including Konan. She wasn’t eating, or rather, drinking as much either. It was obvious what the source of her sudden change was as whenever Gaku entered the same room as her, she would suddenly run out like a frightened feline. Sometimes, gagging as she did. Konan was worried due to this and spoke to Dr. Ryu about it who suggested taking her to a psychologist. She suspected Gaku might’ve done something to the girl, but she was never out of sight of an adult, whether it was Konan or Kakuzu so Gaku didn’t have the chance. Kakuzu made sure of it too as Gaku had made disquieting comments about Zetsu to him.

Whenever the two men passed each other by, Gaku always made it a point to tell Kakuzu how cute his “daughter” was or asking questions such as how old she was. Once he even mentioned how “happy” she would make a man one day. It was so bizarre and immediately the red flags were flying. Due to this, Kakuzu kept a hawk-like eye on Zetsu, the only time he wasn’t was when she was in the bathroom or sleeping. Most times though, she was in his room, either doing homework or reading.  

Finally, after two and half miserable weeks, Pein summoned Kakuzu, Zetsu and Gaku for a mission. Kakuzu was praying Gaku’s efficacy on missions made up for his terrible personality.

God loved ignoring him though.

**…**

“Konohagakure has hired the Akatsuki to find and detain a pair of deserters; lovestruck teenagers.” Pein explained, handing Kakuzu the mission file. “They’ve gone AWOL for two weeks now and the Hokage wants them found and handed over alive so they may face punishment for defecting the frontlines.” Kakuzu opened the file and on the inside two pictures were paperclipped; one of a dark-haired boy, and the other a light-haired girl, neither practically unique. To him, just two children.

Gaku stole a glimpse over his shoulder and whistled. “What a little hottie. Lucky bastard.”

Immediately, Kakuzu was disturbed because one: he just said this about a _thirteen-year-old girl_ ; a _child_ , and two: he had said this in the presence of a _thirteen-year-old girl_. Thankfully, Zetsu was too innocent to realize what was said if she heard, and he was going to make damned sure she never understood either. She was a bit bewildered when Kakuzu hauled her chair nearer to his own but presumed so it was to get a better look at the mission folder that she’d been trying to read.

“They’ve been discovered hiding in village known as Cheeko Sands, outside the capital. Since the Firelands and Wastelands do not have an extradition act with each other, you’ll have to go in and arrest them without the local authorities’ knowledge. If Suna learned that Konoha had shinobi in their nation, they’d restrain them which could cause a lot of issues between the two nations.”

“More issues than a war?” Kakuzu asked dryly, staring at the mission details. Gaku laughed a little too loudly as the quip and slapped him on the shoulder, much to the ex-prisoner’s ire as he gave him a side glare.

“Yes, more so than the war.” Pein monotoned. “Now, would you kindly leave ASAP? We do not want our targets leaving the area and losing them.”

Kakuzu obliged, standing up and as Zetsu did so too, she grabbed his hand, a gesture he surprisingly, he did not spurn. Gaku had plucked the file from his other hand and as they walked out of Pein’s office, he noticed the greasy man staring intently as the two pictures, or instead, the girl’s picture while grinning widely. It incited Kakuzu to clutch Zetsu’s hand which he didn’t let go of for the remainder of the mission.

**…**

Being back in the Wastelands have Kakuzu borderline PTSD after his last visit here. If he had it his way, he would’ve never set foot back in this backwards, dirt ball of a nation, but he couldn’t have it his way, so he’d suck it up for the sake of the mission.

They made it to Cheeko Sands by evening and decided to make camp outside the township for surveillance but also, for rest as Kakuzu ended up having to backpack Zetsu for the last hour because she had started falling asleep on her feet. Due to the nights in the Wastes being cold, freezing even, a campfire for warmth was made. Kakuzu had made the executive decision he would be the lookout for tonight because he didn’t trust Gaku with it, and he didn’t trust Gaku with Zetsu, though, he didn’t mention either of those points. Gaku just said “whatever” and laid down.

After a few minutes, Gaku suddenly leapt back up. “I can’t sleep, I’m going to take a walk,” He proclaimed, as if thinking Kakuzu gave a shit. “Would Zetsu like to come with?”

Zetsu was having difficulties falling back asleep since she had napped for an hour earlier; that, and the cold. So, it was obvious she couldn’t sleep as she twisted and turned underneath Kakuzu’s cloak she was using as a makeshirt blanket. She stared at his grinning face with large eyes at the mention of her name but before she could say anything, Kakuzu answered for her.

“No, she wouldn’t. She has to sleep for the mission.”

Gaku’s smiling diminished into a scowl, like a child told no, only for it to return a second later as he played it off with a shrug. “Ok then. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Then, he walked off and disappeared into the inky darkness of the desert.  

Once he left, Zetsu let out the heftiest sigh like she had been holding it in for a long while now, something Kakuzu noticed and piqued his interest.

“Girl,” Zetsu glanced up at him curiously. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t like the new Firefly. He’s bad and tastes bitter.”

“He tastes…bitter?” Kakuzu questioned, eyebrow hoisted as he was mystified by her statement.

“Yes, like…like licorice!” She tried licorice once because Sasori bought a pack so she tried a piece behind his back and hated it and now, it reminded her of Gaku so she hated it more. “It tastes like licorice but smells like trash.” She said, crinkling her nose when she said trash.

“Chakra has a taste and smell to you?”

“Yes…?” She replied hesitantly like she was nervous of giving him the incorrect answer. Didn’t it to everyone?

Kakuzu had never heard of such a thing even amidst sensor-types outside it having colour and feeling but he figured it to be a characteristic of the Mayfly. It was interesting and as he was getting acquainted with the girl, he discovered she had a lot of intriguing quirks to her.

“It’s fine, girl, he can’t do anything to you.” He told her and patting her on the head which in fact, made her feel a thousand times better, perhaps a million as she smiled and nodded.

She fell asleep a few minutes later, lulled as Kakuzu unconsciously continued petting her hair while he kept a watchful eye for Gaku’s return or any potential threats. What was claimed to be a few minute walk turned into hours as the ex-Iwa shinobi failed to show up. It left Kakuzu irked and worried. Not worried for Gaku’s wellbeing but instead, worried that Gaku was doing something he shouldn’t be doing, like going after their targets himself. He wanted to leave and hunt for him himself, but he didn’t trust Zetsu being by herself while she slept, even if he left one of his hearts with her. Gaku would be back, he’d just have to be patient.

At daybreak as the waking sunlight inundated the circumambient wasteland, finally, Kakuzu spied Gaku in the distance as he approached the little campsite. To say that at this point he was mad would be an understatement, he was _furious._

“Where the fuck have you been?” He challenged Gaku once he was officially back.

“Taking a walk like I said. I just got lost in the desert.” Gaku claimed, literally shrugging off his question.

“Where’s your shirt?” Kakuzu asked next as he distinctly retained the man having a shirt on underneath his opened cloak when he left.

“It was hot, so I took it off. Must’ve dropped it on the way.” Gaku replied, glancing down at himself like he just realized it was gone.

Instantly, Kakuzu called bullshit on this since despite being in the Wastelands, it wasn’t hot, it was numbing. He should be freezing and it evident he was by the quivering his muscles. That, and how could he have dropped his shirt? He could’ve on and on about everything that didn’t add up with his claims, including questioning the suspicious scratches on his greasy face, but he’d be here all day and he couldn’t do that with a time sensitive mission such as this. If it wasn’t for that, he’d do it. He enjoyed making people look like idiots.

Instead, for the time being, he left it as he nudged Zetsu awake. After Kakuzu snuffed out the fire and buried the campsite, he unconsciously grabbed Zetsu’s hand and held it as the three of them walked in the direction of the dirtball down the dusty path. It was dawn yet Cheeko Sands was bustling for dubious reasons.  

Heading down the boulevard, they happened upon gathering of citizens, standing outside an alleyway and chattering. It was restricted by yellow tape and had a plain, white sheet hung over to inhibit sight inside while two police officers positioned outside it told everyone to stand back. Though, the blanket failed at hiding the blood and tissue painting the walls over it. There was a woman screaming, crumpled on the ground and mourning as another, older woman hugged her and cried too.

“M-My baby! My l-little baby girl!” Presumably the mother bawled. “Why? Why!?” Whatever happened here was a disturbingly violent crime.

Kakuzu glanced at Gaku on a hunch and discovered the man staring at the crime scene, in particular, the wailing mother with a sickening grin plastered on his lacerated face. It left the elder with a stinking feeling as he clinched Zetsu’s hand, distracting her own observation of the scene as she stared up at him curiously.

“So, where are these brats?” Gaku asked, awhile after they had left the incident behind.

“We have information of the targets being seen here three days ago, so it’s possible they might’ve left by now but if they hadn’t, then they’re likely hiding out in an inn or hostel,” Kakuzu replied, pulled out the mission file and examining the details over. “Cheeko Sands is a farming village and doesn’t have a large population of shinobi. It shouldn’t be too hard to find them once we start asking around since two teenaged shinobi wound stand out. We’ll start at the inn as there is only one which is utilized mainly by the merchants which pass through. Girl, you heard everything I said, correct? This is information you’ll need for when you start going on missions yourself.”

“Yes, sir.” Zetsu answered automatically despite having her face buried in one of her books as they walked. He left it, instead flicking her on the ear as punishment to which she squawked.

Finding the location of the community’s only inn wasn’t the hard part, it was finding their marks, if they hadn’t left by now. Walking in, the elderly owner’s beady eyes instantly widened upon witnessing the two, large intimidating men entering his little establishment. Kakuzu walked up to the desk, purposely positioning Zetsu beside him so the owner was given a false sense of security with the child present.

He introduced them as plain clothes officers (a lie) and questioned the old man if he had seen their targets as he showed him the pictures of the two teenagers then informed him if he was housing them and didn’t tell them, they had grounds to arrest him for hiding and abetting two fugitives (also a lie). Immediately, the grey-haired man started singing like a canary, explaining the girl and boy had rented a room from him a few days ago and while he was suspicious of them given their skittish nature, he didn’t say anything because they were obviously shinobi and him being a weaker and older civilian, which was understandable.

Once he gave up the number to their room, Gaku went ahead without letting him finish and Kakuzu had to go after him, instructing Zetsu stay behind in the lobby in case things went sideways. Gaku quickly found said room, and without the generosity of knocking first, kicked open the door. True to the old man’s testimony, inside was the girlfriend and boyfriend delinquents.

They went rigid, staring at the shirtless intruder in the middle of packing their bags which left the presumption that they were preparing to leave the Akatsuki wasn’t a minute too late. Once the stupefaction left, the two teenagers ran like a pair of scared rabbits, scampering towards the only other exit in the room which in this case was the window. Gaku was on them, grabbing a fistful of the girl’s long, blonde hair and using it to wring her back onto the mattress, making her yelp in pain. Meanwhile, the boy made it to the window, throwing himself at it, shattering the glass and falling through just as Kakuzu entered.

“I’ve got the girl, get the boy!” He ordered Gaku.

Gaku stared at him, semi-glaring and opened his mouth, obviously to fight him on this, but didn’t, either deciding to listen, for once, or realizing that quibbling with Kakuzu was a bad choice. Either or, Gaku turned and pitched himself out the window after their other mark. Thankfully, the inn was single-floored so after dusting himself off, he took off in the direction the boy was fleeing down the street, pushing past gaping pedestrians.

Kakuzu grabbed the girl. “Don’t make me hurt you.” He warned her quietly, yet stern while squeezing her arm. She nodded, incapable of replying through the waterworks pouring down her face, black tinted from her make-up.

After detaining her, tying her hands together behind her with the use of his threads, he walked her out of the room and back into the lobby. Zetsu had stayed put like told, staring at her book and ignoring the older inn owner as he tried to ask her what she was reading. Kakuzu whistled and she obediently fell to his side, trailing after as he walked them out, basically dragging his detainee with them who decided to play a corpse. Outside, it wasn’t hard to find which way Gaku and the other brat had gone as he guided by the pointing of chatterbox citizens.

Once he did find them, he had to push through a horrified crowd which had gathered. In the middle was Gaku, on top of the boy and thrashing him. Kakuzu grabbed him and pulled off the poor kid. The girl screamed out at the sight of her boyfriend, laying in a puddle of his own blood, beaten black and blue and mimicked a bloodstain instead of a human being. She hurried to his side, falling beside him in the crimson liquid and crying a grumbled version of name through tears which was all she could do with her hands behind her back.

Kakuzu pushed Gaku back as he tried going back in. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?”

Gaku swiped a stray drop of blood on his chin, smearing it with the blood painting his knuckles. “Little bastard tried fighting back so I put him in his place.”

“Then you should’ve restrained him, not beat him within an inch of his fucking life!” Kakuzu yelled back, gesturing at the dark-haired boy who was gasping and spitting up the blood draining into his throat. “You’ve made a fucking scene now. Grab them and let’s get out of here before authorities arrive.” He didn’t give Gaku a chance to reply, as he turned his back to him.

He picked up the boy, slapping his back to help him puke up the last of the blood from his broken nose then shackled him and his girlfriend to each other at the ankles so if one tried running, they’d be dragging the other one.

Quickly, Kakuzu ushered them from the gathering of onlookers with a hurried pace and towards the exit of the village, having Zetsu walk in front of him while pulling their two targets behind him and Gaku tailing them. It wasn’t until they had left the township and Kakuzu confirmed they weren’t being hounded by law enforcement that he paused in order to withdraw a map from his pocket.

“The file mentioned that Konoha had a checkpoint inland of the border to the northwest.” He said, once calculating their location and the location of said checkpoint. “We’ll take them there.”

Surprisingly, Gaku was quiet with his commentary and curious, Kakuzu glanced back at him to doublecheck he hadn’t been left behind or had died—the second of which was a possibly he so wished for. He was there and when Kakuzu’s bloodshot eyes met his, Gaku immediately glanced elsewhere with a sudden deliberation like he noticed something interesting in the distance. It came off to Kakuzu as suspicious and it would’ve only confirmed it if he started whistling too. He was up to something, that much was obvious, and Kakuzu wanted to call him out of it, but couldn’t given he didn’t know what it was. So, he kept mum, instead concentrating on getting their sniveling marks to the checkpoint to be handed over, in one piece, as per Pein’s request.

Once they reached the treeline dividing the Firelands and Wastelands, Kakuzu decided to be a merciful god and call for a break. Mainly because Zetsu was starting to slow down in front of him, paired with the jailbirds dragging on their tethers. After checking on the boy’s injuries which, while bad weren’t terminal, he tied them to opposite sides of a trunk so no collusion could be had.

“I’ll watch them.” Gaku offered, much to Kakuzu’s skepticism.

He wanted to decline him, but since he had to look over the map, being the only person here who knew how to read one, and babysit Zetsu, he decided that this once, just this once, he would trust Gaku to do something and not fuck it up. Unfortunately for him, that’d be a decision he’d regret as the second he turned his back, Gaku happened to “accidently” drop a kunai beside the boy’s tied hands, much to the juvenile’s initial confusion until he realized why until he noticed how Gaku’s white eyes were continuously glancing at him then down the path. 

Kakuzu hadn’t noticed any of this, being too preoccupied as he decided right now was a perfect chance to teach Zetsu how to read a map and to her credit, she was genuinely curious, asking legit questions.

“K-Kara, run! Run!”

Kakuzu straightened up just in time to see their two teenaged targets ran past him, fleeing into the trees with Gaku hot on their heels. He was halted when Kakuzu grabbed him.

“How the fuck did they escape!?” He howled at him. Gaku just shrugged, shaking the tanned man’s hand off him and muttering he’d catch them with what could be described as a thrilled grin before taking to the treetops after them.

Immediately, Kakuzu was left with a sickening feeling and after picking Zetsu into his arms since he knew she didn’t have the chakra capabilities to climb, he gave chase also. However, he ended up losing them in the thick brush and had to have Zetsu track Gaku’s chakra. After several minutes (and gagging on Zetsu’s part), they located them. Oddly, Zetsu mentioned it only being his chakra which made Kakuzu fear their payday had escaped. He landed back on the dirt path, letting Zetsu to which she walked to the bushes to dry heave after having to track such despicable chakra for so long.

Just then, Gaku surfaced from the nearby foliage, scratching his head and mumbling to himself. Kakuzu charged up to him, interrupting his little conversation with himself though hadn’t caught a word of it. “Where are they?” He demanded.

“I…They’re dead. They killed themselves.”

“What!?”

Gaku pointed and Kakuzu pushed past him in the direction of his pointing. After a bit of searching, he found the puppy lovers. They were laid out at the base of a tree, dead like Gaku claimed. The boy was laid out on his back, bloodsoaked further as his throat was slit, the stained kunai clenched in his hand while his girlfriend was beside him, laying on her side, her face crusted in disgusting bile. She hadn’t had her throat slit but instead, by the bruising on her neck, strangled. A murder-suicide, by all appearances. Kakuzu wasn’t buying it though as a lot of things he noticed didn’t add up.

First: why would the boy strangle the girl instead of slitting her throat? It was considered a lot less “painless”, not to mention the fact that manual strangulation could take anywhere from two to five minutes, depending how hard the person was fighting back and by the dark bruising, she hadn’t gone quietly. Also, he must’ve died first as his skin colour had gone blue and grey while she still had a fleshy shade. How could he kill her if he was dead? Lastly: the state of undress, something Kakuzu didn’t focus too hard onto but he had spied how the girl’s belt was undone and her slacks appeared hastily pulled up. No, this wasn’t a murder-suicide, it was a murder. Kakuzu was outraged.

It wasn’t the fact that Gaku killed them, that upset Kakuzu, because he didn’t give two damns about two little shits that decided to play house during a war. No, it wasn’t because they were dead, but because their pay would be halved since Konoha wanted them back alive. He wanted to kill the motherfucker himself for what he did but doing so would jeopardize his position in the Akatsuki and he wasn’t worth it. Instead, he decided once back in Amegakure, he’d inform Pein of Gaku’s treason and pray the ginger-haired bastard did something about it for once.

So, he picked up the two dead bodies and returned back to Gaku who was flexing his hands, staring at the red streaks littering them. He whistled and after the ex-Iwa nin turned, he threw the dead boy into his arms while slinging the girl over his shoulder.

“Let’s get them to the tradepost so this hasn’t been for nothing.” He explained through gritted teeth as it took everything inside him not to bite the bastard’s head off.

He whistled again and Zetsu came out of the woodwork, cradling her stomach and smacking her lips after spilling her cookies for the last few minutes. He grabbed her hand and she cringed when he squeezed it a little too hard. During the entire travel to the checkpoint, Gaku kept going on about how much of a shame it was with this shit-eating grin that Kakuzu wanted to punch off his greasy face.

As imagined, Konoha wasn’t happy having the two kids turned out dead instead of alive like explicitly wanted. So, due to it, half the promised payment was handed over, much to Kakuzu’s ire. If he hadn’t wanted to kill Gaku, then he did now, a hundred-fold. How he didn’t that moment, he didn’t know.

Kakuzu would regret not killing him that day.  


	36. Arc 2: Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An incident happens and changes everything for Zetsu and Kakuzu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (High), Blood/Gore/Violence (High), Character Death, Genderbend, OC (Original Character), Child Abuse, Attempted Murder

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 35**

It was midnight, and Zetsu couldn't sleep.

She had been twisting and turning in her bed since her bedtime at eight. She wasn't sleepy but had to sleep because tomorrow they had a mission and Sir told her so. She didn't want to go though.

The Stinkfly was going too (that's what she called Gaku because his firefly was stinky). Sir wasn't happy because he had tattled on the Stinkfly to Sir Leader (Pein, Sir Pein? Sir Leader) for what he did last mission and he wasn't grounded. If she did something bad, she wasn't allowed to watch TV for a week, but the Stinkfly wasn't punished for whatever bad thing he did? It wasn't fair and she wished he had been grounded so he didn't have to go on the mission with him and it'd just be her and Sir. No Stinkfly and no Firefly, like old times.

After reading a few chapters of her new book and having a tea party with her plushies hadn't tuckered her out, she decided that perhaps taking a walk would do the trick. Whenever she had to walk with Sir on missions, she got tired quickly so it should work here too. She could say hello to the fishies too. Her decision made, she jumped out of bed for the umpteenth time that night and pattered to her door, quietly pushing it open.

Outside, it was quiet as everyone else had gone to sleep. Everyone except Sir as the light was on inside his room, muted, yellow light illuminating through his paper bedroom door. She tried to tiptoe past, so he didn't realize she was up past her bedtime, but despite her best efforts, it wasn't successful.

"Girl, what are you doing up?" Kakuzu asked through the shut door and Zetsu paused mid-step.

"I can't sleep, I'm going to take a walk and say hello to the fishies." She replied truthfully since she was a bad liar.

"Make it quick, you have to sleep for tomorrow's mission."

"Yes, sir." With that, she continued her walk.

After drinking a glass of water, she walked to the training field behind the residence. She circled the half-football field sized area, going a few casual laps while watching the rain patter on the glass paneling overhead and daydreaming. When her calves started burning from the exercise, she decided that should be enough for her to sleep now. But, before she went back to bed, she wanted to spend quality time with the local fish population. She sat down on the edge of lazy river, hiking up her sleeping pants and letting her legs down with her feet in the water, giggling when the koi nibbled on her toes. However, she soon as her visiting started, her nostrils was plagued but the stench of week old fruit and the bitter taste of licorice on her tastebuds. The Stinkfly.

"Hello, Zetsu, what're you doing up so late?"

Immediately, Zetsu spun round to find Gaku standing behind her, gifting her a corncob smile as his white eyes stared at her. She hadn't heard or felt him approaching and must've been too distracted with the fish. She tried to answer, but discovered her mouth dust dry, as though her tongue had shriveled up and died like an insect.

After a minute of sputtering and swallowing, she squeaked out "I couldn't sleep."

"Oh? What a coincidence, I couldn't sleep either," Gaku said with a smile that made her blood turn ice cold in her veins. "Why don't we help each other sleep?"

"No, that's ok I'm going to bed now." She spat out, hastily standing up and kicking the moisture of her feet.

As she scurried past Gaku, or tried to, he had lifted up his arm, cutting out her exit and nearly clothes-lining her in the process. She stopped and stared up at him as he stared back with an empty, soulless look in his eye.

"It wasn't question." He said in a low voice, emotionlessly, and before Zetsu could think to say anything or process what was happening, he threw a punch at her face.

Thankfully, her reflexes were faster than she was, and unconsciously she ducked the punch. As she turned to flee in the opposite direction, he threw a kunai at her feet, tripping her up. There was a decorative rock at the riverside that she landed face first onto it, busting her nose and splitting her lip. She tried screaming out in pain but the blood gushing down her throat gagged her and let out a strangled, gurgling wail instead. Cradling her bleeding face, she pushed herself from the boulder and onto her back, tears waterfalling down her face turning red from the blood.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to this since the minute I met you," Gaku purred as he walked over to the knife, pulling it out of the fake grass, his eyes twinkling with the moonlight shining on the polished blade he pressed to his lips. "The things I'm going to do to you; you're going to my magnum opus." Zetsu backed up into the rock, whimpering as Gaku started walking towards her, twirling the kunai between his fingers.

Suddenly, she was struck by a horrible pain in her head as though a nail was being hammered into it. Her eyelids blinked rapidly as her eyes started spinning in their sockets, displaying the whites and her vision flickered red. It was like something inside her was trying to get out, but it couldn't as it punched its fists against the inside of her skull and screaked, resulting in her letting out a groaning, belching noise through her slacked jaw. It was the Monster; it was the Monster trying to get out, but it couldn't because of the piercing Sir Leader put into her neck.

In her half-delirious state, it was like her brain had blue-screened so instead of defending herself, she tried running again, but Gaku caught the back of her oversized shirt. He yanked her towards him while lifting the kunai, pointing it at her spine to incapacitate her and prevent anymore running. She squeezed shut her eyes in what could be presumed so not to witness what came next but instead, she pushed down her chakra and activated her Mayfly, causing a flytrap tooth to project from her waist. It stabbed through the man's hand, sending the knife flying out of it and twirling through the air until falling into the waterway and scaring the koi as they splashed away from it. Gaku bellowed, wrenching his hand off the offensive foliage as it turned white and melted back into her flesh. As he flinched back, he ripped the back of her sleeping shirt down the middle and slacked hold caused her to fall to the ground.

"You…little…bitch!" He bristled, staring at his crippled, bleeding hand then down to her. He noticed her trying to crawl away and flipped her over, trapping her underneath his heavier weight as he sat on top of her, making it difficult to breathe. "I was going to nice…I was going make your death quick and painless. But now…now you've pissed me off. I'm going to fucking kill you and I'm going to make sure you feel every fucking thing, you bitch." With that, he pressed one hand over her red-smeared mouth so she couldn't scream or breathe while the other pressed down onto her throat with all his strength, crushing it.

It was then Zetsu realized she was going to die.

If he didn't break her neck, then she was going to asphyxiate and blood continued pouring from her nose and down her throat and if she didn't die from either of those, then she was going to drown from the blood filling her lungs. She was going to die.

' _I'm going to die…I'm going to die!'_ She thought to herself as she thrashed underneath Gaku and franticly tried to push his hands off her, but it was no use, he was too big—so, so big—and she was small—so, so small. ' _Please…someone help me! Please! Konan! Sir Leader! Sir! Sir, please help me!_ ' She wanted to fall through the ground like she did with the Firefly, but she couldn't because she didn't know how she did it the first time. She wanted to fight back, but she didn't know how. She was going to die.

Tears watered in her large, honeycomb orbs and as her sight darkened from the lack of oxygen circulating to her brain, she stared up through the glass ceiling at the moon overhead. It stared back like a yellow eye. Then it blinked and turned a crimson red; a red that bled into the night sky. Gaku was talking but her ears were ringing so loud she couldn't hear what he was saying; not ringing but screaming, thousands of deafening screams and moans. As everything went black, the last thing she saw was Gaku's smug, smirking face.

Well, Gaku wasn't smirking for long when a cold, hard fist slammed into it.

…

Something was wrong.

Kakuzu had gotten the inexplainable feeling, so suddenly that it caused him to put down his pen and look up from his financials he had been staring at for the last three hours but not doing because he as too occupied with the mania that Sir Leader hadn't fired Gaku after Kakuzu told him what he had done on their mission and instead, elected to send them on another mission together.

As he did, he glanced at the clock and disclosed it'd been twenty-five minutes since he'd spoken to Zetsu and she hadn't returned to bed yet. He presumed she had lost track of time or ended up falling asleep somewhere. He wouldn't have thought much of it, since he had warned her, and might've left it, if he hadn't had this horrible sickness in this stomach. His gut? Whatever it was, it prompted him to get up and check for her before he returned to his paperwork.

He stepped out from his bedroom and noticed down the hallway, that Gaku's door was opened and he wasn't inside. This worsened his gut feeling now that he realized that Gaku was out and about with Zetsu somewhere, by herself.

He checked the kitchen and living area first, thinking she might've had a glass of water or milk and fallen asleep on the recliner while watching television but when she didn't turn up there, she remembered her mentioning taking a walk and visiting the fish and the only place you could do so was the back area. As he walked in that direction, the sour sensitive in his stomach increased and he found his walking speeding up while he prayed he'd just find her at the water, playing with the koi.

What he found instead made him feel like he had walked into a nightmare.

At first, Kakuzu wasn't sure what he walked in on as he saw Gaku, crouched on the ground over something, but then he saw the kicking, little feet from under him and once it clicked with him what it was, something inside him snapped. In a blink, he had punched Gaku in the head with his Doton-infused fist, flipping him over and as the murderer sat up, Kakuzu was on him with such brutality it rivaled that witness of the Mayfly during World War Two.

Gaku had tried fighting back and defending himself, but it was futile as Kakuzu mauled him with barbarous punches milliseconds apart, breaking bones and splashing himself with hot blood. He didn't have the chance to scream. In a manner of seconds, Kakuzu had beaten Gaku into a puddle of flesh and blood and when he wasn't given the satisfaction of crunching bones underneath his fists anymore, he changed to _ripping_ the bastard apart, grabbing a hold of black and blue skin and tearing it as if he was skinning an animal.

It felt like it lasted a millennium, when in reality, it only lasted a minute, two at most, and once Kakuzu was finished, he was shaking and leaning over the gruesome chunklets of what was once a "man", now nothing more than bone and chum. It didn't resemble a human being anymore.

He heard gagging and glimpsed over to find Zetsu puking blood into the grass. Instantly, he was at her side, hitting her back as she emptied her belly. Once she was done, she grossly blubbered between coughing and gasping from breathe due to being strangled and Kakuzu did the only thing he could think in the moment: he cradled her, hushing her and bouncing her in his knee while massaging her back like an infant, staining her outfit with the blood on his hands. She clung to him, sniveling into his neck and dribbling blood and mucus on him but in that moment, he didn't give a shit; he couldn't think of anything except for what Gaku tried to do, what Gaku might've done as he noticed her shirt ripped down her back and exhibiting her pale skin underneath.

Konan had heard a ruckus outside and put on her slippers and gown to investigate and had walked into the backyard, in the middle of asking what had happened when she saw Kakuzu, hugging a bloody and crying Zetsu while he himself was painted head to toe in blood with a pile of human-shaped gore beside him. Once she saw this, she let out a mortified gasped.

"What happened!?" She yelled, hurrying over and falling to her knees beside him, ignoring the blood soaking into her nightgown. "Kakuzu, what happened!?"

"Gaku, he tried to…" Kakuzu couldn't bring himself to say what happened as his lips unexpectantly trembled and voice died his gulping throat.

Instead, he stood up with Zetsu in his arms, turning and walking back to the house without a word with a distraught Konan behind him. He went to the kitchen and once inside, he sat the teenager on one of the stools at the counter while he searched for a cloth. Konan clued into what he was doing and grabbed one before he did, wetting it and using it to wash the blood off Zetsu's face. While she did, she tried asking Zetsu what happened, since Kakuzu couldn't say and the girl had gone from crying to dead silence, the telltale sign of shock.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu was pacing behind her, fisting his hair and gritting his teeth as he burned alive with an anger he had never experienced before. If he could, he would've brought Gaku back to life just to kill him over and over again a million times over.

Konan finished cleaning Zetsu's face, horrified to find the darkening bruising around her nose and worse, the hideous handprint on her neck. "Gaku is dead, right?" She asked Kakuzu, just to doublecheck that bloodstain in the grass was him. "Pein should know what happened. I'll go tell him."

"No!" Kakuzu suddenly barked as Konan made the motion to turn and leave to do just that. "I'll go tell him. Stay with Zetsu." She didn't get to have a say in either, as like that, Kakuzu was gone, leaving her to pick up the pieces with Zetsu.

He left the mansion, stampeding all the way to Pein's Tower like a bull after the colour red. Once there, he literally punching in the code in the keypad, breaking it in the process but the elevator chugged upwards to the top floor.

Pein was in his office despite the last hour as he had wakened from a nightmare and decided to do a bit paperwork until he was readied to sleep again. He felt Kakuzu's chakra on the elevator heading towards his office and by the white-hot presence to it, he prepared himself for one of the man's temper tantrums. So, as the elevator made to its destination with a ding and the doors opened, Pein was given enough warning to use his Rinnegan to catch the control panel which had been ripped out and thrown at him. He threw it aside with a flick of his wrist just as Kakuzu came charging out, obviously with the intention to fight the ginger.

"You motherfucker!" Kakuzu screamed, running at Pein, fists pulled back and hardened with a plume of steam. "You knew all along!"

"Kakuzu, I do not know what you speak of," Pein calmly explained, picking up the previously discarded electronic keypad with his Kekkei Genkai and expelling it at Kakuzu to interrupt his approach. "Would you kindly explain yourself?"

It did little as the brunette punched his brass fist through it, causing it to explode. "You know Gaku was a child murdering fuck and you hired him anyway!" Kakuzu picked up one of the chairs and threw it which Pein swatted away. "He tried to kill Zetsu!"

"Yes, I did and perhaps if Zetsu had finished her training and mastered the Mayfly, this wouldn't have happened to her." And that what was triggered Kakuzu's ire into bloodthirst.

He lurched over his desk, geared to throttle Pein like he enabled Gaku to do to Zetsu, but that would've been too easy as his supervisor held up a hand, catching him mid-air with his Dōjutsu, sent him flying until hitting the wall on the opposite side of the office with a crunch as the porcelain masks on his back were splintered into shards. He slid down the wall, flinching in pain from the damage to his hearts and felt blood leaking into the back of his shirt. At this point, this shirt wasn't salvageable from much blood was soaking into it now.

Pein lowered his hand and sighed. "I apologize Kakuzu, but that is the truth. Now, would you kindly leave my office? I do not wish to kill you."

After a minute, Kakuzu shakingly pushed himself up, glaring at Pein, hatred burning in his bloodshot eyes, and pointed a finger at him. "I'll _never_ accept a new partner without Zetsu approving of them first. Do you hear me? _Never!"_ He hated admitting to it, but after that was said, he departed back into the elevator, much like a dog with its tail between its legs. Since he had pulled the panel out, after much kicking and stamping the sparking wiring left behind, the elevator went down though the doors didn't shut.

When Kakuzu returned back to the Akatsuki Manor, Konan and Zetsu were still in the kitchen with Zetsu burritoed in a blanket after Konan changed her out of her ruined pajamas and giver her a glass of chocolate milk. Konan noticed the slight limp Kakuzu had to his step as he entered, obvious evidence he had picked a fight with Pein and lost, though he ignored her as she asked if he was ok.

"How is she?" He asked her quietly instead, glancing in Zetsu's direction.

Konan looked at Zetsu, who was emptily staring at her untouched glass and saying nothing, then back at Kakuzu. "I…I don't know. I tried asking her what happened, but she isn't talk. While I changed her, I searched for…evidence if Gaku did anything to her, but I don't think he did. I'm going to call a therapist tomorrow and set her up for an immediate appointment. Dr. Ryu gave me a recommendation for one when I spoke to him last."

Kakuzu nodded. While he was glad to hear that rapist bastard hadn't hurt her like that, he knew just because nothing could be found didn't mean nothing happened and they wouldn't know otherwise since Zetsu wasn't talking and he wasn't going to make her talk either. It would just worsen the trauma. "I'll clean up the mess in the morning. I'm going to have Zetsu sleep in my room tonight."

Konan opened her mouth to purpose having Zetsu sleep with her instead since it wasn't that she didn't trust him, it would make her feel more comfortable, but said nothing when she realized he was doing this, because she saw how guilty he felt for what happened by how he stared at the girl; a stare the woman could describe as…heartbroken? Instead, she nodded, telling him to give her an update in the morning if anything happened then after kissing an unresponsive Zetsu good night, went to her bedroom to try and sleep. Emphasis on "try". After tonight, she'd be surprised to get any sleep for the next few days.

Once Konan was gone, Kakuzu put the full glass of chocolate milk in the fridge for later and when Zetsu didn't move as he told her it was bedtime, he picked her up, carrying her to his bedroom. He laid her down by his kotatsu but didn't tuck her in since she was wrapped in a blanket and didn't want to make her too warm.

"Try to sleep." He whispered to her, patting her grassy hair to which she said nothing and didn't close her eyes. He wasn't going to make her sleep. Hell, after what happened, it'd be a miracle if she slept.

He left her and stepped to his closet, pulling off his shirt which took a bit of effort as it had glued itself to his tanned skin due to the blood. After getting it off, he cringed upon hearing pieces of his masks clattering onto the hardwood floor. It looked like he'd be mailing a letter and payment to a certain someone for new masks. He wasn't looking forward to the written castigation he'd receive for breaking her "babies" again. After picking up the piece and putting them safely in his drawer, he put on a new shirt and sat down to try to get his financials done, which was easier said than done for a hundred and one reasons. One being, that a few minutes in, he heard sniffling. Zetsu was crying again.

Immediately, he got up but paused as he wasn't positive on what to do. It was easier before when he was functioning off emotion. He was starting to understand what Yui meant when once upon a time, she told him he wasn't much of an empathetic person. After a minute questioning himself, he walked to where Zetsu laid, quietly whimpering and shivering in her blanket.

"Girl, you alright?" He asked, laying a hesitant hand on her shoulder so he didn't startle her. He mentally facepalmed himself for the stupid question. Obviously, she wasn't alright.

"I'm sorry." She hiccupped.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Kakuzu thoroughly dismissed, brushing her hair.

"But I do!" Zetsu sat up, sniffling and staring at him with watering eyes. "You said If I didn't train then I would fail, and I did! If I trained, then the Stinkfly wouldn't have done what he did! It's my fault! I'm sorry!"

"Girl, it's ok. Do not blame yourself for this." He reinstated but she wasn't listening.

"I'm sorry, I'll train now, I'm sorry." She buried her face into her hands, weeping.

Kakuzu felt all five of his hearts grieving for her over the fact that she blamed herself for what Gaku did to her when it could've happened to anyone. It made him hate the bastard more, if that was possible, for what he had done to her. He tried his best to calm her, but given his inexperience with such situations, he could nothing but pet and hush her.

As a child, a millennium ago, whenever he was upset or couldn't sleep, his mother would sing to him. Well, there was no way in hell he was going to sing to Zetsu but that was the brightest idea he had. He didn't have a substitute either, like…a boopbox? Boombox? Whatever that contraption was called. He didn't, but he knew who did. Often, when he walked past Sasori's room, he heard music playing from inside so he must have one. Mercifully, he was gone somewhere, doing whatever the little shit did so that was an encounter he didn't have to deal with.

He got up and briefly left the sniveling girl as he walked to Sasori's room. It didn't surprise him to learn the redhead had boobytrapped during his leave and when the elder pushed open the door, he was fired upon by a makeshift barrel on the other side of the room that launched poisoned senbon. Thankfully, he had heard the click of it being triggered and activated his Earth Spear to reinforce his skin and avoid having this night go any worse. Once the last the needles clanged to the floor, he entered the dark bedroom. It took him a minute of searching in the inkiness, but he found a radio on the boy's desk and grabbed it, pulling it out of the wall.

When he arrived back at his room with prize in hand, Zetsu was still crying but had quieted down as the waterworks started running dry. He plugged the speaker into the electric source for the table and sat it on top. He had never used one of these before, so he did a lot of buttoning pushing just to turn it on. At one point, the CD tray on top popped open, displaying a disc inside titled "Classic Songs of Sunagakure" and he was in luck a CD was inside it since he hadn't thought of it not having one. After fiddling with it a bit more, he figured out how to turn it on and the CD turned in its cradle, playing the middle of the last song it was on.

_"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs, "The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies,". As the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, he cries to the moo-oo-oon, "If only, if only."_

While country music was not to Kakuzu's tastes, it appeared to influence Zetsu as her tears dried and she swayed to the rhythm. He was just glad to see his stupid idea was successful. He left the music playing as he put Zetsu back down then laid himself in his bed. After three songs had finished, he glanced over to find the girl had finally fallen asleep, having left the safety of her security blanket in favour of the heated kotatsu. Quietly, he tiptoed around her, turning off the player than went back to his bed though didn't expect to sleep.

After a half-an-hour, he drifted off.

…

Kakuzu woke up at the crack of dawn, exhausted after only resting a few hours but his internal clock prohibited him going back to sleep so instead, he got up.

Zetsu was fast asleep in the position as she had fallen asleep the night previous, having not so much as twitched all night, much to his relief. After tucking her back in as the blanket had slipped a little, he left the bedroom in the direction of the kitchen for a hot, black cup of coffee. He'd need it after yesterday.

Turns out, Konan had beaten him to the punch as the blue-haired woman was in the kitchen, still wearing the blood splattered gown from last night and staring lethargically at her steaming cup of coffee milk after failing to sleep a wink.

Once he entered the kitchen, she straightened up from where she was leaning over the counter. "How is she?" She immediately interrogated him.

"She's…ok. She's sleeping." He said, finding his mug in the cabinet and pouring himself a cup of coffee also before walking over to join her.

Konan sighed, just relieved to hear that someone in this house managed to sleep. "Has she said anything of what happened?"

"She blames herself for what happened."

"What!? Isn't wasn't her fault! You told her that, right?"

"Of course, I told her that."

"Good, because it isn't."

After that, the conversation went dead quiet between the two adults except the occasional sipping of their beverages. A few minutes in, and Kakuzu sighed. "It's my fault."

"What?" Konan asked, taken back by the unanticipated admission and stared at the male; amber orbs bewildered.

"If I hadn't slacked on her training, Gaku wouldn't have prayed on her so easily." It took a lot for him to admit to this, something she acknowledged but didn't agree too which she surprised herself with, considering she secretly wanted a person to blame for Gaku.

"Kakuzu, it isn't your fault either." She insisted.

"No, it is because if I had just taken a minute to read his fucking file, I would've learned all the shit he did and would've never let him into the Akatsuki." In an explosion of impromptu rage, he slammed his mug down, fracturing it apart and splashing himself with the burning hot liquid inside.

Konan was up, grabbing the leftover, bloodied wash cloth from last night and soaking it in cold water before bustling to Kakuzu's side and pressing it to the bright pink burns on his hands. All while he didn't so much as flinch. "Kakuzu, if you're going by that logic then you aren't the one responsible for that because you weren't the one that let him into the Akatsuki, that was Pein and trust me, he'll be getting an earful about it when I see him this morning." She said, using a piece of her paper to patch up his hand until it could be bandaged properly. "As for the training, a lot of things factor into that, such as the Mayfly. Because of it, a lot of simple things for us is impossible for Zetsu to learn. It wasn't her fault, nor it is yours." She finished tending to his hand and he pulled it back, staring at the white parchment on it.

He wanted to continue on with the fact that everything that happened last night could've been prevented by him, but if he knew anything about women, it was they were proficient in arguments and he could bicker with her until he was blue in the face and she wouldn't back down. So, he decided to cut his losses. Besides, he was too tired for it.

"I'm going to go clean up outside." He said instead, deciding not to clarify himself since she should know what he was talking about.

Konan nodded. "I'm going to call the therapist and make an appointment as soon as possible." He left while she went to find that phone number.

Outside, the crows had discovered the mutilated remains of Gaku and eaten a sizable portion of him by the time Kakuzu walked out and shooed them off. He then a spent an ample chunk of his morning picking up Gaku by hand and putting him into a trash bag. Once done, he summoned a disfigured Amatsu to wash the blood out of the grass into the adjacent rivulet, tinting the crystal water a pink which he decided the koi would be just fine swimming in the contaminated water for a manner of hours until it filtered out with the fresh rainwater. Afterward, he threw the literal body bag into the dumpster behind the grounds and went back inside to check on Zetsu. Inside his bedroom, he found it empty and Zetsu missing.

He checked her bedroom and bathroom and everywhere else and when that had no results, he went to the last place he hadn't checked: the training field, and that is where he found her. She was practicing, throwing punches and kicking an invisible opponent. She noticed him, picking up on his chakra and scurried over to him, amazing him when she didn't seem as beside herself as she was last night.

"Sir, can I train with Rājan?" She asked, slightly breathless from her exercises.

"I…what're you doing, girl?"

"Training."

"You don't have to…" Kakuzu began but she interrupted him.

"I want to." She said, staring him dead in the eye, an extraordinarily confident gesture coming from the typically timid girl.

He made the decision not to dispute her and called out Rājan who was on the sluggish side given the breakage to its mask. Despite this, it trudged after Zetsu as she ushered it over. Kakuzu left her to it since he presumed training was her way of recovering.

When he walked into the kitchen to have that cup of coffee had hadn't be able to enjoy, and identified a haggard Konan, slaving over eggs and bacon for the resident shit-eater himself, Sasori. He was seated at the kitchen table, outside Hiruko as the puppet sat inactive beside him like a dozing dog. Upon noticing Kakuzu, the teenager bristled.

"Oi, someone broke into my room and nicked my radio. Was it you?" He incriminated, pointing a rude finger at the miser who ignored it.

"I didn't 'nick' it, I burrowed it for Zetsu." He explained, pouring himself a cold cup of coffee.

"Z—or right, I heard about that lil' incident she had with Gaku last night. Too bad bastard didn't finish her off. Though, can't imagine she would've been a good fuck anyway."

Well, as soon as Sasori said that, he spent the remainder of the morning blacked out on the kitchen floor after Kakuzu launched his fist into his smug little face then he and Konan talked and ate the breakfast she had been blackmailed into preparing for the boy.

And that's how Kakuzu killed his first partner: Kawai Gaku.


	37. Arc 2: Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zetsu trains herself harder than ever and Kakuzu realizes a change in himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Low), Genderbend, OC (Original Character)

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 36**

After the incident with Gaku, Zetsu dedicated every minute of her day to training, from sunrise to sunset. If she wasn’t sleeping, eating, learning or whatever else, she was training. All while reprimanding herself for her weakness and languishing over the “what-if” scenarios if she had finished her training and acquired the Mayfly like told. It was this negative, dramatic mentality which influenced her to be the best shinobi ever and perfect her Kekkei Genkai. Meanwhile, this new training routine had Kakuzu querulous.

From personal experience, he was positive she was going to going to burn herself out, doing more harm than good, and was correct when a few times, an exasperated Rājan arrived at Kakuzu’s bedroom door because Zetsu had blacked out in the middle of practice due to exhaustion and the elder had to pick her up and put her to bed, only for her to be up and back at it after sleeping for two or three hours. He wanted to monitor her like he did before, but it was problematic due to his duties as treasurer for the Akatsuki.

Tonight was one such circumstance, as he heard the bedroom door beside his sliding open and the tiptapping of bare feet on hardwood, so he decided to encounter her. As he opened his door, he caught petite shape walking around the corner in the direction of the training field.

“Girl.” He gruffed and Zetsu paused, hesitantly stepping back into his field of view. “Go back to bed.”

“I’m ok, sir.” Zetsu insisted, shuffling behind the corner as she waited for permission to continue on her way.

“No, you aren’t ok. You’re going to make yourself sick or hurt yourself or both.” Definitely both.

“I am! Please, I just want to train.” Zetsu pleaded, borderline desperation in her tone like a child bargaining to play past dark which took Kakuzu by surprise for multiple reasons, including the fact she would never talk back to him having experienced the consequences firsthand.

Due to this, Kakuzu’s hardened facial expression cushioned as emerald orbs stared at her with an uncharacteristically delicate gaze. “Girl, are you ok?” He questioned her in a hushed voice, so she didn’t mistake it as anything else as genuine.

After of a minute of silence, Zetsu shook her head, lips quivering. “No…because you were right, and I didn’t listen to you.” He had done what a certified therapist had failed to do thus far: get her to open up.

“What was I correct on?”

“That you have to be a monster to live or you’ll die. It’s a doggy dog world.”

“Dog eat dog?”

“Yes.” She whispered, voice trembling and she sniffed, her golden eyes watering as she stared back at him. “I don’t want to die; I don’t want to get hurt like that again.”

“I…” It was the first time in a long while that Kakuzu couldn’t think of what to say. In fact, he damned himself for being the cause of Zetsu’s current fragility.

He had been too hard on her in the past and said a lot of things he’d take back now. That, and if he’d just tell her to go back to bed, then Gaku would’ve never attacked her. Though, he realized if he hadn’t done it then, he would’ve just done so later and Kakuzu may’ve not had to chance to defend her like he had. Even then, it was a miracle he had because a minute later, she might’ve died. If he hadn’t wasted time checking her favourite hideouts, he might’ve been able to prevent her from getting hurt in the first place. It was now, as he went through the “ifs, ands, and buts” that he realized something about himself and Zetsu.

This _girl_ , the girl he instantly hated upon first meeting and did everything in his power to hurt and/or kill her, was important to him; it physically hurt him to think of anything happening to Zetsu. Even now, going through the hypothetical scenarios pained his five hearts. When he saw Gaku on her that night, he had a white-hot paroxysm had had never experienced before in his life except when he killed Taki’s elders. Gaku might as well been trying to murder Kakuzu’s daughter in front of him. It was this epiphany that gifted him the knowledge of what to say next.

“You’re aren’t going to die because I’m not going to let that happen. I’m not going to let you be hurt again.”

Zetsu stared him with two, glistening basins of gold once hearing him say this and as Kakuzu stared back, his red-eyed gaze telling no lies, she realized he didn’t hate her like he once did. That he might, like her now? She had liked him, but she never thought he would like her back.

She said nothing, just staring at him with this whimsical look and Kakuzu interrupted the pregnant silence by clearing his throat. “That includes you and you’re going to hurt yourself with excessively you’ve been training yourself. Now, to bed.”

“C…Can I train for a little bit? An itty-bitty little bit?” Zetsu pleaded and out came the patent pending “Zetsu Eyes” and fuck Kakuzu felt himself crumbling beneath their pathetic stare immediately.

“I-I…fine! You have an hour! Then, you have to go back to bed, or I’ll put you down myself. Understand?”

“Understood!” Zetsu chirped and disappeared around the corner, only to backpedal seconds later, giving him a sheepish stare. “Can I train with Rājan too?”

Kakuzu said nothing, just heaving a defeated sigh and mobilizing Rājan. Zetsu squeaked a “thank you” and grabbed the heart’s stringy hand, using it to guide it to the training area.

With that over, Kakuzu returned to his bedroom to work an additional hour then go to bed himself. He couldn’t explain it, but it felt like a weight had been taken off his chest. His hearts felt—lighter.

**…**

After that, Kakuzu starting monitoring Zetsu’s training sessions, permitting her three hours of training (with fifteen-minute breaks in between) a day. Once the three-hour mark hit, Rājan, her typical practice partner, would cease what it was doing, even it was in the middle of a fight, and grumble at her to go inside because her time limit was up. Sometimes she did, but sometimes she didn’t the chimera would have to pick her up and hoist her to Kakuzu who give her a five-minute reprimand on how she was going to hurt herself or crash, or blah, blah, blah. Since he had to do it every other day, he felt like such a broken record and quickly ran out of new things to say. Not that it would manner anyway since she didn’t listen and all he could do was continue to drag her back into the house if she tried going past her authorized three hours or sneaking back out to do. Thankfully, she hadn’t yet mastered the art of being a stealthy shinobi and Kakuzu instantly caught on whenever she tried going back on to the training field.

While Kakuzu wasn’t personally observing the results of Zetsu’s training, he witnessed the evidence of it firsthand as one day, Rājan hoofed into his bedroom, oni mask brandishing a large crack through the middle and its snarling maw minus two teeth.

Though wasn’t mad, he wasn’t happy either by this since he had just paid to have it refurbished. He called an obviously guilty Zetsu in to question her what happened and while she openly admitted to being the cause and apologized profusely to him and Rājan, it surprised Kakuzu when Rājan stepped in, grunting and motioning in her defense. In fact, he perceived it displaying a pridefulness in her direction. Given she had nailed it with a solid hit, he admitted he was impressed too. So, he let her go with a warning to withhold from damaging his hearts too much and she agreed.

After that, she started petitioning her training sessions be with Daora instead and he didn’t question it, presuming she still felt bad for what she did to Rājan though the heart publicized no malicious towards her. A development considering Kakuzu always considered it to be the more wrathful of the abominations but figured that like him, it had developed a weakness for the girl.

Due to the limitations on her, Zetsu had gone back to studies, spending the remainder of her time during the day doing homework or reading. With her obsessive training, she had lapsed on her schooling, a thing Konan noticed and was surprised by since Zetsu ordinarily loved learning and never turned in her assignments late or not at all. She spoke to Kakuzu about it who explained what was going on and while it helped her better understand Zetsu behaviorism, she still sat the girl down and explained to how important her education was and she couldn’t ignore her homework and blah, blah, blah. Zetsu felt a little bullied by her guardians but listened—kind of. It was Konan’s talk with her, that influenced her to give Kakuzu an improvised visit one day.

Zetsu first rapped her knuckles on Sir’s shut door and once granted entrance, she pushed it open and walked in, finding him as his desk. She wasn’t sure she had ever since him sitting anywhere else though. “Sir, are you busy?”

“Yes.” Kakuzu answered, staring down as his financials and tapping his pen on his head as he wrecked his brain for a number he was missing. But, when wasn’t he busy nowadays?

“Oh, ok.”

“Why, girl?”

“Umm…I wanted to go to the library because when Konan gets home, it’s closed, and I don’t want to wait until the weekend.” Zetsu explained quietly, fiddling her fingers. “Can we go?”

“It was just the weekend; you didn’t go then?”

“No.” She had to spend that entire weekend catching up on all her overdue assignments.

“I can’t. I have to finish this. Tomorrow, maybe.”

“Oh…ok.”

He expected that to be the end of it, but no, because Zetsu continued to stand there and not just that, he felt her doing _it_ to him, he hated _it._ He tried ignoring her, but after a minute straight of it, he glimpsed at her and confirmed his suspicious as his olive eyes met large ambers, staring back at him with pathetic gawking. Fuck him, no. She obviously realized he couldn’t fight that stare and had weaponized it against him. It took him just milliseconds later to fling his pen down and push himself up.

“Alright! I’ll get dressed…”

“Yay!” Zetsu cheered, bouncing in place and clapping her hands. “I’ll get my books and book bag!” Then she scurried off, leaving behind a defeated and humiliated Kakuzu to get himself ready.

**…**

Amegakure’s one and only library was a distinct walk on the other side of the capital and Zetsu had to guide him by hand to its location since he had never inspected it.

Being the only library, it was large, massive, rivaling the size an academy with three floors including a basement book shop that Zetsu blathered on about the entire walk, being where Konan purchased her books and the fabric bag she carried that on it, had a picture of a cat on a bookshelf and read “I have no shelf control”. Kakuzu hated puns.

Inside, it was quiet, like any honorable library should be as a handful of people walked the beautifully organized bookshelves. At entrance was a circular counter for checking out books and dropping them off. Behind it, was seated an older, greying woman though only the bun of her hair visible as she was hunched over her desk, labouring over documenting down each book turned in for that day. Zetsu skipped over and started feeding her books and movies into the slot when the woman glanced over and instantly brightened up when seeing the green-haired girl, her wrinkled lips twitching upwards into a charitable smile.

“Zetsu! How is my favourite, little reader?” She greeted her, standing up from her chair and straightening out her dress. “You worried me when you didn’t show up this weekend.”

“Hello, Ms. Ansari. I had a lotta homework so I couldn’t come so Sir took me today!” Zetsu explained, dumping out the remainder of her bookbag into the bucket.

“Sir?” Ms. Ansari inquired, staring up at Kakuzu over the lenses of her thin, reading glasses. “So, you’re the infamous Sir? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow back at her. “Have you?”

She laughed and raised up her hands then shaking them though it was due to Parkinson’s. “Nothing bad, nothing bad. Zetsu goes on about you all the time.”

“Does she?” He questioned, glancing at Zetsu whose pale face was powdered pink with an embarrassed blush as she directed her eyes elsewhere.

Ms. Ansari giggled again and turned to the teenager. “So, what are we getting today? Or are you interested in something new?”

“New?”

The librarian pulled out a shipping box and opened it, letting Zetsu be the first to see the new literature inside. She searched through for a minute then picked two books that caught her interest.

After which, she thanked the older woman and left to browse the main floor which was considered the general literature section while the lower floor was the children’s wing and upper floor the adult section. Kakuzu walked over to an available table, sitting down and picking up a book left behind, thumbing through it as Zetsu searched through each and every aisle for new reading material. Approximately thirty minutes later, she walked up to him, little arms stacked with her limit of ten books a week, plus three video tapes, including one she was renting for the hundredth time.

“You finished?” He asked her and she peaked around her treasure trove, nodding to him. He decided to help, taking the books from her while she carried the movies and walking them to the counter to be checked out.

As Ms. Ansari scanned each book, she and Zetsu made idle chat over the material she picked this week. Suddenly, the grandmotherly figured paused, staring at one of the video tapes Zetsu had handed her while frowning as she examined it and read the summary on it and rating.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry but I can’t let you check this out.”

“Why?” Zetsu quizzed her.

“Because it has an ‘R’ rating,” She explained, extending the plastic box out for her to see and pointing at the large, letter ‘R’ printed on it in the back corner. “You have to be eighteen or older to check this out. That, or have a parent’s permission.”

Kakuzu wasn’t paying much attention, being transfixed on a specific children’s book for sale in a glass case when an object was pushed into his chest. He glanced down; dark eyebrow piqued to discover Zetsu nudging him with a tape. He accepted it from her, glimpsing it over though not positive why she handed this to him. When he looked at her for explanation, she gave none except the subtly switching of her golden orbs between him and the movie. It took a minute, but he figured what she wanted and investigated the film box. It was a twenty-six-part documentary on the Second Shinobi World War in colour. Kakuzu couldn’t understand why Zetsu was so hellbent on wanting it until he turned it over and read the description.

 _‘…including an examination of atrocities and depredations committed by the supernation Kusagakure and its infamous bloodline, the Mayfly.’_ Ah, so that explained it. Once reading this, he peered at her over the see-through box to find her staring at him expectantly.

“Girl, are you positive you want to watch this?” He interrogated her, given the material and especially as he noticed the ‘R’ rating printed on it.

“Please?” She pleaded him, milliseconds from giving him the “stare”.

So, after a few seconds, Kakuzu let out the mightiest sigh. “…I’m a bad parent.” He admitted, passing the documentary back the librarian who giggled as she took it.

She had him write his signature on a piece of paperwork that was proof he basically gave his permission for the adult orientated movie to be rented to a minor and she finished checking Zetsu out who gathered her new learning material in her bag. After saying goodbye, Kakuzu and Zetsu left the establishment. Outside, as Zetsu started walking to go home, Kakuzu caught her arm, preventing her from leaving and earning him an inquisitive look from her.

“Girl, you can watch that movie on one condition,” He told her, pointing a finger up. “Do not let Konan see you watching it; she wouldn’t happy if she sees you watching it.” Especially not at him. “Understand?”

“Understood!” She immediately said, giving him a salute.

“Alright, let’s get breakfast while we’re out.” It wasn’t like he had to pay, being in the Akatsuki, afterall.

Zetsu kept her promise and Konan never learned of the movie. A few times though, Kakuzu would be walking to the kitchen during the late night for a cup of tea and saw Zetsu watching it and cringed at the horrible imagery playing on the television screen. He himself hadn’t been involved in the Second World War, being imprisoned during the time, so viewing the footage from it left him a little disturbed. It also made him question if it would have a lasting effect on Zetsu, especially when he caught her on multiple occasions watching the part on the Mayfly, over and over.

 _‘It’s educational.’_ He told himself and kept walking, trying to ignore the narrator in the background as he spoke of the trenches of bodies found, eaten and mutilated by the Mayfly.

**…**

It was Sunday and Zetsu was taking her required fifteen-minute break, nestled in a sun patch and reading a chapter of her new book while her training partner of the day, Daora, lazed in the grass a little ways off.

It had taken advantage of the clear weather and positioned itself in the sunlight, laid out on its back with its spindly limbs in the air like a dead insect. Zetsu didn’t pay much attention to it, too captivated by her novel until she heard a rustling. She glimpsed over the pages and found Daora had turned over, now hunkered down to the ground and staring at her. Or, she thought so considering it didn’t have eyes and it was unknown where it was staring, if could see at all.

After a minute of the staredown, she went back to her book only to glance up a second later when she heard the motion again and discovered Daora closer than before. It didn’t move, just stayed there, watching her. As of late, she noticed it doing this during their lessons where it would crawl near her when she wasn’t looking, and it made her a little uncomfortable since it was like the heart was hunting her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Daora (she found it funny how it would expand like a balloon when using its wind attacks) it was just she didn’t have as much experience with it as she did Rājan so she didn’t know what to expect from it. Typically, she took it as an excuse to go back to training but today, she was on a great part in her book and wanted to finish it first.

So, she again, tried to go back to her reading and ignore the grass swishing as the bird-like creature shuffled through it but she wasn’t successful. The third time she looked up, she was face-to-face (face-to-mask?) with Daora. She flinched back, expecting it to peck her or whatever else. Instead, it bounced up from its prone position, cooking like a dove as it kneaded the fake grass with its talons and pushed its cold, porcelain face into hers in an affectionate headbutt. It walked over her lap, rubbing itself against her and by accident, suffocating her with its thick, threaded body.

Zetsu didn’t know what to do but she couldn’t breathe so she buried her hands into Daora’s “fur” to push it off which it mistook the action as petting. Immediately, it erupted into an intense purring that made its entire being vibrate and it fell over like a ragdoll, squashing Zetsu. She squirmed underneath the critter, but its heavier weight pressed her into the ground, leaving her defenseless to the pulsating mass atop her.

In the evening, Konan came home. Ordinarily, she’d spend the day off with Zetsu, given it was Sunday, but today she decided to finish a few last-minute objectives. Besides, she Zetsu would be training and didn’t want to interfere with that. After preparing the living room for lessons and getting in comfortable clothing, she decided to go searching for the teenager for her nightly schooling. She wasn’t in the kitchen, having a snack or her bedroom and curious, Konan decided to ask Kakuzu of the girl’s location.

“Kakuzu? Is Zetsu training still?” Konan asked the miser, pushing open his door after he granted entrance.

“Hmm?” He picked his eyes up from his paperwork to the clock hung over his desk. Upon reading the time, he cursed himself. He had lost track of time and hadn’t brought Zetsu in from her three-hour training time. Daora hadn’t returned either though it wasn’t as dependable as Rājan. “Yes, she is.” He grumbled, pushing himself up with a sigh.

“Oh, it’s alright. I can get her.”

“I have to get Daora.” He explained. An explanation Konan accepted as she nodded and left to go the training field to find the girl.

Kakuzu was a step behind her, nearly walking into her as he wasn’t paying much mind and she was just standing there, in the pathway leading to the backyard. She turned towards him, hand shielding her mouth. Except, it wasn’t a shocked gesture as her ambered eyes were turned down into crescents and he could see the upturned corners of her lips peeking past her hand: she was smiling.

He piqued an eyebrow at her. “What?” She said nothing, instead stepping aside and pointing and he spied past her at what was so entertaining.

What he found was Daora, laid out like a corpse with two human legs sticking out from underneath it, obviously Zetsu. Kakuzu, on the other hand, was not so tickled pink by the ludicrous image.

“Daora!” He barked, pushing past Konan.

Daora was instantly wakened by the calling of its name, picking up its head and peeping as it searched for its master. Once it saw Kakuzu, it leapt to its feet, chirping and skipping over to him with its backside fishtailing. He shooed it aside while he checked on Zetsu to determine the creature hadn’t accidentally crushed her underneath its weight. It hadn’t as she was asleep, her book opened on her face to shelter it from the sun. He bumped her until waking her up. She plucked the book off her face, honeydew orbs blinking up at him with a sleepy and bewildered gaze. He asked her if she was alright, which she replied with a nod and yawn, pushing herself into a sitting position and rubbing the sleepies from her eyes.

“Training is over.” He told her sternly

“Baww, but I didn’t train much.” Zetsu whined, standing up and dusting herself off. She hadn’t even been able to finish the chapter in her book.  

“It’s late, so go wash up and get your books.” Konan said, brushed her hand through the girl’s ruffled strands as she passed her by and smiling.

Once Zetsu was gone, Kakuzu ushered Daora over to put it back with its siblings, when Konan spoke up. “Your hearts—they’ve grown an attachment to Zetsu?”

“And?” Kakuzu stared hard at her. “You trying to say something?”

She smiled. “Well, I think it’s just interesting, is all. It says a lot about you.”

Just because he had confirmed to himself that he cared about Zetsu didn’t mean he was going to with anyone else, especially not Konan. So, he huffed. “It says nothing.”

“ _’Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye’_.” Konan quoted with a red-lettered smirk then turned and left, leaving the elder a bit flustered.

**…**

Finally, after three months of grueling and intense training, Zetsu was ready.

Like every other morning, she woke up at the break of dawn but instead of going to the field, she dressed appropriately and went to Kakuzu’s room, tapping her knuckles on the paper door. It took a minute, but a bedraggled Kakuzu greeted her, having just woken up a few minutes ago.

“Girl…what is it?” He yawned.

“I’m ready!” Zetsu proclaimed, flexing her developing arm muscles that were on display by her tanktop.

“For what?”

“A fight!”

“A fight?”

“I want to fight you, Sir!”

Kakuzu was taken aback by this and it succeeded in waking him up. “Fight me? You mean a spar?”

“Yes?” Zetsu replied dubiously since she wasn’t positive the definition of that word but trusted it was one for “fight”. “I want to show you everything I learned!”

“You can show me.” He insisted but she stubbornly shook her head at the proposition.

“No, I want to show you like I showed the Firefly! Please?” Normally, Kakuzu wouldn’t hesitant when challenged, but this was Zetsu they were talking about and he didn’t want to hurt her, no matter how much stronger she may’ve gotten. It was due to this hesitation he didn’t answer out right and it was this silence that drained her enthusiasm a little as her shoulders slouched and her grinning downturned into a frown as she delivered him a defeat state. “Please, sir? I just want to prove to you I’m strong now.”

Finally, Kakuzu cried uncle, emitting a long-drawn sigh. “Alright, girl,” Immediately, she perked back up, grinning and bouncing in place. “Let me get dressed and I’ll meet you in the training area.”

“Not there.”

Kakuzu’s eyebrows lifted to his hairline. “Not there?” She shook her head. “Then where?”


	38. Arc 2: Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakuzu vs. Zetsu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Language (Low), Blood/Violence (Low), Genderbend

**Wasteland**

**Red Dawn Arc**

**Chapter 37**

The "where" was back at the beginning: the cabin in the Riverlands.

It had been a considerable length of time, yet, it felt like yesterday since they had left to Amegakure. Nothing had changed except the waist-high weeds which had infiltrated the wooden structure and dust coating the windows. It didn't appear anyone had inhabited the little shack since their departure except the regional wildlife. Kakuzu felt himself a little nostalgic once seeing it again.

"Here?" He clarified, the golden grass crunching underneath his boots as he stepped into the hibernating field. It surprised him she decided on here instead of the training field, but he had his suspicions as to why that was.

Zetsu glimpsed around, scrutinizing her choice of environment then nodding to him. "Yes."

"Ok, how're we going to do this?" She stared at him, obviously not understanding him so he explained himself. "Is this going to be a free-for-all, or fisticuffs?"

"Ummm…like when I had the fight with the Firefly?"

"So, fisticuffs; no jutsu except taijutsu."

"With jutsu."

He piqued a dark eyebrow. "You'd like to use jutsu?" She nodded. Before, she had his curiosity, but now, she had his attention. "Then, with jutsu. Anything else?"

"I don't think so?"

"Ok, then it'll be a one-on-one fight with jutsu permitted. Oh, no dirty fighting either. If you try to kick me in the balls like you did with Sasori, I'll punish you, understand, girl?"

Zetsu didn't know what "balls" were but she agreed. "Understood, sir."

"Alright then. We'll take ten paces opposite of each other and on a count of three, we'll begin."

"Yes, sir." She said and turned her back to him, taking her ten respective steps.

Given Kakuzu's gigantic size, his steps ended up being larger than Zetsu's tinier ones which gave her a dominance on him since he would be beginning a lot farther back than she would be which he authorized. While he'd treat this as a legitimate fight, he wanted to give her as much gain as possible given the dramatic differences in their skill levels but do so without undermining her. He hadn't experienced firsthand the fruits of her labour so for all he knew, she could be an ass-kicking machine. But, that was why they were doing this, so she could show him her capabilities now. Thinking on it, he was…excited; he hadn't been excited for a fight since Hashirama—or, so he felt before getting obliterated.

Once his ten steps were taken, he paused. "Girl, are you ready?" He asked, staring straight ahead into the treeline.

"Yes, sir!" Zetsu chirped from the other side of the opening.

"Ok. Three…two…one!"

Immediately, Kakuzu turned himself around, arms crossed over his chest in preparation of being attacked first. Instead, Zetsu hadn't left her side, having taken a defensive position. She had one arm slung over her midsection and the other straightened beside her face while she did a three-step in a circle. He didn't recognize it and while it intrigued him, he decided to exercise caution in light of this unknown fighting stance. Especially once she started traipsing his direction without breaking position.

He met her halfway in three strides and delivered a straight, right punch, being careful of the strength of it so if it did hit, he wouldn't hurt her too seriously. She ducked it and replied by bringing her hand up at his chin. Kakuzu was positive it wasn't going to connect, given the girl was half his height, and didn't understand why she would go for an attack such as that since she must've known it too. Due to this, he didn't dodge and took the opening to bend his elbow with the intention of hitting her in the head with it. What he didn't predict was, her grabbing onto the front of his muscle shirt and using it to pick herself off the ground, avoiding his elbow then proceeding to drill her knee into his stomach. It was a solid hit too, since he hadn't had the time to solidify his abdomen and he grunted in pain. He grabbed her hand to pull her off and she straightened out her legs, kicking against his chest and freeing herself from his grasp as she propelled herself backwards with her arms out, not unlike a professional diver doing a backflip off a high board. She caught herself in a handstand position and walked herself on her hands from him before flipping herself over back onto her feet, going back to her fighting stance/dance. Kakuzu was impressed by the little show.

' _She's a lot more…flexible now.'_ He thought to himself, massaging the area on his chest she had kicked off him. _'Where the fuck did she learn this?'_ He didn't have time to think on it because she was running at him.

This time, he activated his Doton to prevent further injury and used one arm to shield his midsection while he threw his other in a right hook targeted to interrupt her charge. She didn't stop, going straight at his fist but Kakuzu didn't pull it back. At the last second, she pitched herself backwards onto her backside, the momentum sending her sliding through the grass and between his legs. He caught herself with her hand and spun herself around, catching his ankles with her legs to try and topple him. It was unsuccessful though, considering the comical size difference. He kicked his steel-toed boot back like a bucking bull, nailing her in the chest and sending her skidding through the dirt, casting a plume of it into the air.

He turned, prepared for the next onslaught and Zetsu to emerge from the cloud but she didn't and as the dust fell, she was nowhere to be seen with no evidence of her location except the skidmark through the grass leading the thicket. He searched the treetops, thinking she had climbed up into them for camouflage but saw nothing. She must be hiding behind them then, he convinced himself and kept his distance since it was the perfect chance for her to ambush him otherwise. He'd just wait her out. After a minute and nothing though, he started getting curious and little anxious. He hadn't hurt her, had he? If he had, he'd hear her since the girl had a habit of moaning and groaning when in pain. Yet, he heard nothing except the rustling of the dead leaves in the morning breeze.

Suddenly, something hit him hard in the back, successfully sending him stumbling a few steps. It was Zetsu, having flanked him though how he didn't know how since he hadn't heard her behind him. She climbed up his back and as he bumbled forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and flipped herself over his head, using her weight to cause him to lose his footing and go down. He faceplanted into the ground and caused a miniscule earthquake as he impacted it. Zetsu rolled from him and quickly got to her feet, fleeing into the thicket. Meanwhile, Kakuzu pushed himself onto his hands and knees, wheezing as the duel collision had kicked the oxygen out of his lungs.

"You little…shit…" He gasped, though it wasn't said out of antagonism towards her as much as frustration towards himself for leaving himself open to be attacked from behind like that. If this was a life-or-death strife, that little mistake would've caused his death. No more fun and games. It was obvious Zetsu had improved and proven that to him, so he wasn't playing with her anymore. He wasn't going to hurt her, but he also wasn't going to let her win this. "Ok, girl, you wanted a fight and you're going to get one."

Straightening up, he punched his brass fists together, the striking of metal on metal causing a rain of white-hot sparks and creating a horrible, scraping noise that frightened the birds in the neighbouring trees and they deserted the treetops in large, black flocks. He heard something behind them, a quiet scuttling which could've been mistaken as an animal except for the fact it wasn't leaving from him, but towards him and turned just as Zetsu was flying at him with a kick. He caught her leg and used it to slam her down. Inches from the earth, the flytrap-like extensions of the Mayfly vegetated from her waist, cocooning her and cushioning her from the strike. Despite having it witnessed it a few times now, it always surprised Kakuzu whenever he saw the Kekkei Genkai. Furthermore, when Zetsu utilized it correctly.

As the plastron deliquesced into a white goo, she flipped herself onto to her feet to distance herself from the elder, but he was on her, firing punches. She managed to sidestep a few and buy herself time but they continued so fast and so many that she ended up having to trigger her Mayfly again. It mimicked a brick wall, taking the hits while displaying little to no damage on its exterior, even with his Doton activated, and after a minute, Kakuzu yielded in his blitz.

It was in this second that Zetsu withdrew the Mayfly again and lurched at him, grabbed his arm and using it hoist herself in order to kick him in the side of the head. He grunted but didn't let the hit muddle him as he jerked his arm back, chucking her off and sending her summersaulting through the air. She turned herself upside down, landing on her hands and flipping backwards onto her feet. Kakuzu didn't give her a second to catch her breathe as he bulldozed at her, arms readied for a second barrage. Or, so he made it appear.

Zetsu initiate the Mayfly again but Kakuzu didn't attack her immediately. He had noticed that flytrap originated from her waist, therefore only insulating her upper half while leaving her lower half public. So, he trained onto her legs, pulling back his punch in favour of kicking her legs out from under her. It was a last-minute switch so Zetsu didn't have time to counter it and as his boot collided with her kneecaps, she fell backwards, the heavier weight of the herbage bringing her down.

Once grounded, Kakuzu leant over her and jammed his fingers in between the opening of the husk, trying to pry it open to where she was hidden inside. The flytrap instinctively tried diverting the invasion as the pointed external teeth stabbed at his hands and arms. They were unsuccessful as Kakuzu's Earth Spear shielded him from being punctured and managed to wrench it open. Exposed, Zetsu panicked a bit since she didn't exactly have anywhere to run or hide and, in her presentiment, kicked her leg up towards a particular part of Kakuzu's anatomy he had warned her from hitting.

"Girl! I told you, do not to kick me in the balls!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know what that was!"

Instinctively, Kakuzu had cupped said place with his hand to shield it from her incoming foot and thankfully, Zetsu stopped herself before landing the kick and making them both instantly regret it. Instead, she relinquished her bloodline and pushed herself up, backpedaling from him. Once the immediate threat to his manhood as gone, he pursued her. Her Mayfly hadn't yet finished liquefying and didn't have time to harden again from its half-melted state. She guarded herself with her arms as he dispatched an uppercut at her.

It was strong enough to pick her off her feet and launch her into the sky. He ejected his fist after her and instead of avoiding it, she took the strike, the impact of which sent her hurtling into the oak trees. The branches crackled as they snapped underneath her tumbling weight and stray leaves floated down but he didn't see her fall out.

Kakuzu realized his screw up and sighed, exasperated. He was starting to understand why she picked here as the place of their spar; a lot of places to hide and since she didn't have a chakra signature—wait a minute, _wait a fucking second._ She wasn't hiding—yes, she was hiding but not like a child playing hide-and-seek. The Mayfly—had she figured out the Mayfly? It was such a sudden and huge understanding that he felt like he had been struck by a train. Just as everything clicked in his old brain, he heard the littlest noise and turned his head in the direction of it just as a human-sized flytrap ejected from the ground behind as if it was liquid, not solid. It was Zetsu—the Mayfly—she was using the _fucking Mayfly._

He was left so awestruck by this revelation that he didn't have the time or thought process to defend himself for her surprise attack, permitting her to establish a direct kick to his face, blooding his nose but not breaking it. She then used his face as a trampoline, jumping off it and swan diving into the earth, her insectivorous plant-like shell turning white with the activation of the Mayfly as she phased using it. Then, like a dolphin jumping out of the ocean, she rocketed up from the ground a second later in front of Kakuzu, spinning a kick at his head but he lifted his arm up, deflecting each leg and she fall back down from once she came, disappearing again. Despite being kicked in the face, Kakuzu was exhilarated.

Spitting out the blood trinkling from his nose, he formulated a new plan of action in face of the extinct bloodline. With a click of his tongue, Amatsu clambered down his back, belching a greeting to him as it picked itself up with its grotesquely long arms. The Mayfly, while hailed as being the "master" bloodline by Kusagakure, had its weaknesses like any other bloodline. One of which: water.

Amatsu gurgled as it tilted its head back then throwing it down, heaving a literal tidal wave of water and rapidly flooding the woodlands. Seconds later, Zetsu materialized from the ground near the cabin, gasping and flailing against the inundation, her flytrap melting away like tissue paper. Kakuzu had Amatsu cease its regurgitation to prevent accidentally drowning the girl. Zetsu scrambled to liberate herself from the quicksand and Kakuzu walked over, plucking her out of the mud and placing her on her feet. She was soaking wet and shivering but she didn't let that inhibit her as she took her fighting stance, prepared to continue her skirmish with the elder.

Though, instead of attacking her, he did something unexpected. He picked her up by her underarms like a stuffed toy and _hugged_ her; a bear hug too as he squished her in his large arms. Sir had never hugged her like this. Then, he did something else she never ever expected—he started laughing; a belly laugh that rattled her as he held her to his chest. Sir had never laughed before either. She was so confused on what was happening; she didn't hate it, she was just confused, so so confused. Due to this, she said nothing as he hugged her and genuinely laughed. Even Amatsu was confused as it stared at its owner with a curious tilt to its head.

Finally, after a minute of this, he placed her back on the ground as he leant over to be eyelevel with her. He was smiling and while he had a scary smile because of how it made his stitched cheeks split open, displaying his teeth inside, she liked it because Sir never smiled so it felt special. He never smiled at her either, so it felt extra special too.

"You used the Mayfly," He said to her, tone a bit skeptical as though he didn't believe what he was saying if he hadn't witnessed it with his own two eyes. "You used the Mayfly."

"Yes, I did!" Zetsu proclaimed proudly, smiling back with her canines exhibited.

"How the fuck did you learn to do that?"

"I was watching the movies and they explained how the Mayfly did it, so I tried it too." She clumsily explained, shrugging. At least it gave him the gratification that letting her check out that movie had paid off, ignoring the mental scarring from the imagery.

"I…I am so proud of you, Zetsu."

Instantly, smile crumbled, lips quivering, and her eyes the size of saucers. "P-Proud?"

"Yes, you learned the Mayfly all by yourself." He iterated. "I'm proud of you."

She stared at him, lemoned orbs glistening. After a minute, she smiled again and began laughing, a loud, fabricated laughter. It lasted a few seconds until the happy laughter turned into ugly blubbering. Kakuzu cradled her and patted her back as she cried tears of happiness of having one of most important persons in her life telling her he was proud of her. Once her sniveling was finished, he had Teo blow-dry her so she wouldn't catch a chill. It was decided that Kakuzu won since she couldn't use her Mayfly with Amatsu and physically, she couldn't defeat him either. In Kakuzu's book though, she was a winner.

They left back to Amegakure as Kakuzu wanted a chat with Pein. First though, he treated Zetsu to a chocolate milkshake for her achievement.

…

"Oh no."

Konan glimpsed up from the paperwork she was double-checking at proclamation, finding Pein sat back in his chair, kneading his temples. She didn't have to ask as she heard the chiming of the elevator, indicting a visitor, and she had two guesses as to who was inside. It arrived and as the doors opened, confirming half her guesses as Kakuzu stepped out though she didn't predict a jubilant Zetsu skipping out behind him. As Kakuzu strided up to his desk, Pein prepared himself to be subjected to whatever bullshit had ruffled the old bird's feathers this time.

Kakuzu slammed his hands onto the metal desk, staring into the Rinnegan then smiled, grinned even. "She did it."

"Who did what?" Pein pried, despite having a hint by the self-satisfied, smirking Zetsu standing behind Kakuzu.

"Zetsu learned the Mayfly."

On the other side of the office, Konan gasped excitedly, standing up from her makeshift desk (a table). "Zetsu, did you?"

"Yes!" Zetsu squeaked, skittering over to Konan who gifted her the hugest hug while celebrating her, borderline suffocating the girl in her chest but Zetsu didn't care as she marinated in all the praise.

"That is impressive—and all it took to happen was…a year?" Pein said, orange eyebrows lifted to his headband. Kakuzu's happiness drained from his face as his expression darkened and bloodshot orbs squinted into a dirty glaring at the other man, lip snarled. It could be testified that a _child_ learning a Kekkei Genkai in a year when it took others _years,_ or even entire _lifetimes_ was an extraordinary accomplishment but he it'd be on deaf ears so Kakuzu said nothing. "So, now that Zetsu has mastered the Mayfly, she is prepared to be a member of the Akatsuki, would you agree to this?"

"Yes, I would." Kakuzu nodded with the upmost confidence.

"As would I. But, before she can become a member, I have one test left for her: a mission."

Kakuzu felt a stab of anxiety in his gut at the mention of his mysterious mission. "A mission?"

Pein nodded than stared past him at Zetsu who Konan continued to smother in affection. "Zetsu, would you kindly come over here?" Konan finally granted the teenager freedom as Zetsu obliged the request, walking over to Pein's desk then taking the chair beside Kakuzu as Pein gestured for her to sit down. "Thank you. Now then, you're in luck. I just received this proposition this morning," He leant down, pulling open a drawer in his desk and plucking up a mission file which he then handed off to Zetsu instead of Kakuzu, much to her puzzlement. She tried giving it to him, but he pushed it back into her hands, shaking his hands and pointing at Pein so he may begin his explanation.

"The Akatsuki has been approached by a party which wishes to remain anonymous but wants us to kill a drug dealer, Dokuro Izo," Pein paused, indicating as the file and after a minute, Zetsu clued it and opened it. Clipped on the inside was a mugshot of Dokuro Izo, a blonde but balding man with a face that displayed the disfiguring scars and acne of rabid drug use, upper lip split by a cleft palette and cockeye staring into nothing. Included with the picture was his rap sheet that was the size of a laundry list of violent and drug related crimes. "Apparently, Izo has been peddling drugs to shinobi fighting the Third War and this party isn't pleased about it as he is trespassing on their territory. So, they want him eliminated but through a third party so no connection can be made to them since Izo has, according to them, had 'made friends in high places'."

"So, we're fighting drug wars now?" Kakuzu questioned in disbelief.

"It's about the money, not the morals." Pein requited, hand clasped underneath his chin on his desk. "So, you're to go in and kill the target and leave; a basic assassination."

"That's it?" Kakuzu inquired, curious what made this mission so special to be considered a test for Zetsu.

"Yes, it is," Pein agreed, then a second later, something must've clicked with him because he straightened up, hands laid on his desk. "Oh yes, and this is going to be a solo mission for Zetsu. I want her to be the one to kill this target." Zetsu glanced up from the file she'd been reading through, frowning as the mention of her killing anyone. On the other side, Konan cringed, causing her to accidentally to swipe her pen over the paper she was signing and ruin it.

Immediately, Kakuzu felt himself being metaphorically being punched in the stomach at that last-minute clause. "You want her to solo an assassination mission?"

"If it makes you comfortable, Kakuzu, you may join her, but I do not want you having any hand in this mission. Everything must be done by Zetsu, especially eliminating the target." Kakuzu glimpsed at Zetsu to find her staring at Pein with this hesitant expression on her face like she was trying to figure out that what she heard was correct.

"I do not think Zetsu is ready to kill." Kakuzu told Pein, noticing her flinch in the corner of his eye at the mention of "kill".

Pein frowned, making his lip piercings project. "And, why is that? It isn't like she hasn't killed before." At this, Zetsu started tearing up, her lips quivering and eyes watering.

"That wasn't her!" Kakuzu barked, temper triggered as a reaction to the girl's upset. "She isn't prepared to do something like this."

"Well, I apologize you feel this way, Kakuzu, but if Zetsu is going to be part of the Akatsuki, this is the requirement to do so. Because of the Mayfly, she's going to responsible for espionage and assassinations and if she cannot do that, then I'll find someone else to do it."

"Pein, please…" Konan pleaded her partner, standing up from her table but proceeded no further as the ginger hiked up a hand, pointed in her direction if though an implicit threat to remain where she was.

His Rinnegan narrowed, pinpointed on Zetsu. "The Akatsuki has no room for dead weight." Pein then said, in a stoic yet bitterly cold tone that turned the air itself as freezing as that of Yukigakure.

Konan went quiet, as did Kakuzu and a strained silence swallowed the office except for Zetsu's hushed sniffling. Finally, Kakuzu was the one to interrupt it after a solid minute of the hush.

"When do we leave?"

"Immediately."


End file.
